> Why is it different that it’s within a metal than the stuff the universe cooled into?
Because that's the point of classification - we want to distinguish between case A and case B. Everything in existence is an emergent property of the universe, but you can't really have any meaningful conversation if the only noun in your vocabulary is "stuff."
> protons are a hole in the background fuzz of quarks and gluons in cold aether
No, there is no cold aether, and protons are not holes in anything. They are composite particles. To the degree that their constituent parts can be described as excitations of quantum fields, so can they, but they are no less real.
> I’m not sure I follow: proton mass is related to flux tubes suppressing that fuzz in the area of the proton. Empty space has energy, which manifests as that particle fuzz.
Proton mass comes from the confinement of its constituent parts. Only about 9% of the proton's mass is a result of the quarks it contains interacting with the quark field, which again is not literally a "fuzz" of discrete particles. Flux tubes are just shapes of magnetic fields. Protons are not just their mass, they have many properties.
> Because that's the point of classification - we want to distinguish between case A and case B.
Right — but why?
What is useful about that classification if the two types of particles emerge the same way, as holes within a substrate?
What do we gain in “composite” vs “quasi”?
> No, there is no cold aether, and protons are not holes in anything.
There is — we can measure vacuum energy as existing. We can also measure spacetime as existing, directly. We know there’s an aether.
> Proton mass comes from the confinement of its constituent parts. […] Flux tubes are just shapes of magnetic fields.
Flux tubes are the region where the connection between quarks suppresses the fuzz from vacuum energy. That’s where the non-quark mass comes from. (As you call it, confinement.)
Because that's the point of classification - we want to distinguish between case A and case B. Everything in existence is an emergent property of the universe, but you can't really have any meaningful conversation if the only noun in your vocabulary is "stuff."
> protons are a hole in the background fuzz of quarks and gluons in cold aether
No, there is no cold aether, and protons are not holes in anything. They are composite particles. To the degree that their constituent parts can be described as excitations of quantum fields, so can they, but they are no less real.
> I’m not sure I follow: proton mass is related to flux tubes suppressing that fuzz in the area of the proton. Empty space has energy, which manifests as that particle fuzz.
Proton mass comes from the confinement of its constituent parts. Only about 9% of the proton's mass is a result of the quarks it contains interacting with the quark field, which again is not literally a "fuzz" of discrete particles. Flux tubes are just shapes of magnetic fields. Protons are not just their mass, they have many properties.