It is not based on direct interactions and is not a valid representation of nature. If one were to invent a physics today knowing what we now know he would not invent the one devised by Newton. Nor would he start with Newton's concepts and make all the modifications by Einstein and the quantum physicists to make a comprehensive theory. Rather, he would take a medium for light and fields, look at the structural hierarchy of matter, leave out all the abstractions, make everything a direct action, and assemble a single cohesive theory. There is a non-material medium through which light waves and fields move.
Particles consist of self-contained electromagnetism that detaches from the medium.
Objects are suspended in the medium by their gravitational fields. Fields are reverberations in the medium by the structural motion of particles. Space consists of fields generated in the medium. Fields slow the velocity of light and the equilibration of fields. Objects center in their space and move in a stronger field to equalize their own.