Over two thousand years ago, Aristotle concluded that our reality consists of:
“… a multitude of single things (substances), each of them characterized by intrinsic properties …” (Audretsch, 2004, p274).
This view checks our boxes because it is simple, intuitive, and fruitful. It is simple because it says the things we know cause everything. It is intuitive because it lets a ray of light hit a screen at one point. And it was fruitful because the study of material things allowed science to grow.
Materialism has served science well over the years but today it is failing. The harsh truth of modern physics is that particles can’t explain the facts observed, as light illustrates. A particle can’t go through two slits to interfere with itself, but light can. A particle can’t detect an object without touching it, but light can. A particle can’t find the fastest path to any destination, but light can. A particle can’t alter a path it has travelled, but light can. Particles can’t interact faster than light, but entangled photons can. Materialism is the mother of physics but when reality bites us, it has no answer.
Then along came quantum theory with all the answers based on quantum waves. It was perfect but for the fact that it described what couldn’t physically happen. Nature accepted it, because it worked, but physics disowned it, because it contradicted materialism, preferring instead to believe a fairy tale.
3.9.1. A Fairy Tale for Physicists
3.9.2. Is Quantum Theory Science?
3.9.3. The Measurement Problem
3.9.4. Beyond Materialism
3.9.5. The Unmeasured Reality
3.9.6. Plato’s Cave