Scientists are not very good at the three-body problem. At the four-body problem, they don't even try.

In short, physicists do not have a good understanding of the big picture. I am disappointed that you fail to see the various levels on which matter performs.

Spacetime is a framework. It says nothing about space; it says nothing about time. It is all about explaining the behavior of matter. many people mistake space and time as the ingredients of Spacetime. It is 'merely' a (correct) tool.

Same for the tape measure. It correctly measures how tall you are. But if you subsequently declare how, based on this correct information, the tape measure was involved with how tall you ended up being, then you don't have the dog wagging its tail, but the other way around.

So, we have to agree on the basics of the universe, bkuehlhorn, otherwise you are viewing the jar from the inside-out and not from the outside-in.