The quantum network never stops, nor do the waves upon it. A quantum wave, of light or matter, runs at a point, then is passed on to its neighbors, that also run and pass it on, and so on. Each point runs and passes on what it gets, in a ripple of processing that travels at light speed because the quantum network is so fast. This ripple, or quantum wave, is a processing wave, and in the next chapter these waves explain the miracle of light.

A processing wave can spread like a wave across network points but if any point reboots, it will restart again, just as turning a smartphone off and on again reboots and restarts it. A phone will reboot when it overloads, so reverse engineering suggests that a network point overloading will reboot and restart the quantum wave. It follows that quantum waves spreading on a network will eventually overload a point that will reboot and restart them again. Chapter 4 details how these reboots can give rise to matter.

In this view, photons are like apps that spread on a network. We call an app that spreads on the Internet a virus, but a photon on the quantum network spreads like a virus until a reboot restarts it. As will be seen, this model explains how quantum waves spread, collapse, and restart in network terms.

But while our networks transfer information, the quantum network transfers processing, and while our apps generate processing, quantum “apps” generate processing. The principles are the same, but the quantum network is based on processing while our networks are based on information. For example, quantum waves spread processing not information, so quantum computers are more powerful than physical computers. Doubling the power of a physical computer needs double the bits, but adding just one qubit to a quantum computer doubles its power (Note 1). Comparing quantum processing to physical processing is like comparing a nuclear bomb to a classical bomb.

Our computers are lightning fast but each bit is still a choice between two physical states. In contrast, a qubit can choose both states at once, so while a physical electron can spin up or down, its quantum version can spin up and down at the same time. Schrödinger’s example of a cat that is alive and dead at the same time shows how strange this is to us (3.8.2). Quantum currents can even travel both ways around a circuit at once, even though it is physically impossible (Cho, 2000).

Quantum theory’s description of photons and electrons, as waves that restart when observed in physical events, predicts their behavior brilliantly, so Heisenberg imagined the quantum world as one of possibilities:

“The atoms or elementary particles themselves are not real; they form a world of potentialities or possibilities rather than one of things or facts.” (Rosenblum & Kuttner, 2006) p104.

Einstein ridiculed this because it was physically impossible, so Bohr proposed the compromise we have today, that the quantum world is imaginary but we can still use its equations:

“There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description.” (Petersen, 1963).

Essentially, the physical events quantum theory predicts are real, so we can use its equations, but what it describes is imaginary, so no explanations are possible. This example of doublethink lets physicists use equations based on quantum waves that they say don’t exist! If astronomers used equations based on the earth orbiting the sun but denied that it did, they would be ridiculed, but current physics allows it!

Despite its relegation to the realm of fantasy, the revelation that quantum events cause physical events was the greatest discovery of last century, on a par with evolution the century before, and that the earth orbits the sun centuries earlier. But while religion opposed the earlier advances, physics is the denier this time. That orthodoxy denies innovation is no surprise, but who expected the orthodoxy to be physics itself?

If quantum events generate physical events, the physical world we see reflects a quantum world we can’t see. Most of us think that we see reality but the evidence is that we only see outputs. That space and time are also generated would explain why they curve and dilate, so let us explore how that could be.

Next

Note 1. A quantum computer of N qubits equates to a classical computer of 2^N bits.

Some links that might be interesting but don’t necessarily agree with quantum realism.

The World is an Illusion – Quantum Physics (Video). Contrasts what physics says about quantum waves and the matter substance we normally take as reality.

The Simulation Hypothesis Documentary (Video). A pretty good video outlining the basic argument behind virtualism.

For The New Atheists (Video) Johanan Raatz presents the Digital Physics Argument and then argues for a universal mind.

Have we reached the end of physics? (Video, TED talk) Harry Cliff, a CERN particle physicist glumly concludes that the Large Hadron Collider is not producing a new physics.

The Simulation Argument. Bostrom presents papers and links relating to his proposal that we are probably living in a simulation created by our future ancestors. See my comments on the simulation hypothesis.

Arguments for and against the simulation hypothesis. An excellent discussion of the pros and cons of the simulation hypothesis, e.g. that it doesn’t predict anything.

Why we are probably not living in a simulation (based on classical processing). Theoretical physicists crunch the numbers to show that building a classical computer to explain physics would need more atoms than there are in the universe.

Tom’s Top 10 interpretations of quantum mechanics. A brief overview of the main interpretations of quantum theory. Does not include quantum realism, that the quantum world described is real.

The Scale of the Universe. An excellent online display of the scale of the universe.

Sine Wave Animation. A visual representation of how a circle creates a sine wave.

Next

 

 

2026. Some questions about quantum realism and their answers. Email any further questions to brianxw@gmail.com.

1. A universe as big as ours must be real.

Answer. It is only big relative to us, just as we are big relative to bacteria. Our universe may be tiny compared to what contains it. We don’t know the scale of what is going on.

2. A universe that has been going for billions of years must be real.

Answer. Again, only relative to us. Our lifetime is just a flash compared to that of a planet, star, or galaxy. In Hindu scriptures, a day of the god Brahma is about 4 billion years, and in Buddhism a small Kalpa is about 16 billion years, so it all depends on scale.

3. It would take a computer bigger than the universe to simulate it.

Answer. True. A physical computer the size of our universe can only compute a few molecules, but a quantum computer has exponentially more power than a classical one of the same size (2.1.4), so a quantum computer as big as our universe could cause it.

4. So who is the programmer?

Answer. Whatever made our universe also made us, but to assume that what creates us is like us is presumptuous. We can reverse engineer physics to deduce the nature of our physical world, but any more is speculative. And why assume one programmer? Our universe could be an open-access system that many users edit. Observations trigger physical events, like a painting that appears one brushstroke at a time, and we aren’t the only painters as atoms also cause events (2.5.4). If so, you are one of the programmers!

5. Computers need physical hardware so the argument is circular. Processing based on the physical world can’t create the physical world. That’s recursive.

Answer. That a physical world created itself is recursive but that a non-physical world created it isn’t. Physical processing needs physical hardware, but quantum processing only needs quantum waves, so if they exist, this theory isn’t recursive.

6. Can we hack into the system?

Answer. Maybe we already do? Quantum computers tap into it, but the no-cloning theorem doesn’t let us modify it (3.4). Consciousness could also be the exception that gives a back-door to understanding quantum reality, as explored in Chapter 7.

7. Is this like The Matrix, with Keanu Reeves as Neo?

Answer. Definitely not. Neo dropped out of the Matrix reality into another physical world (5.7.1), but the processing described by quantum theory isn’t physical at all. What generates our physical world can’t be based on anything physical (Annex 1).

8. This just defers the problem of fully explaining everything to another level, so it can’t be a theory of everything (TOE).

Answer. True. If every physical event is to some degree uncertain, as quantum theory states, no physical history can ever predict it. An objective reality that exists by itself allows a theory of everything, but a subjective reality that only exists when observed doesn’t. If our world is an observer-observed reality, as Wheeler’s participative universe implies, the only option available is a query of everything (1.6.4).

9. If virtual reality calculations are performed by “something”, it would be a system like our universe that would need its own explanation, and we are back to square one, so to speak.

Answer. The something you refer to is described by quantum theory, which didn’t take us back to square one but a square further on. Explaining quantum theory is a new step not an old one, and if that unites quantum theory and relativity theory, it is yet another step (5.1.1). Science is about progress not perfection.

10. A theory that some other world creates this world is not testable.

Answer. Actually, it is. A theory about heaven isn’t testable because heaven isn’t observable, but that physical events are generated is a theory about our observed world that is testable. Quantum theory states how the quantum world creates our world, and it has been tested many times, but we don’t like the conclusion (4.5.9).

11. This is all just meta-physics, like the number of angels on a pinhead.

Answer. Meta-physics speculates on unknowable things, but this statement is about the world we see, so it isn’t just meta-physics. Quantum waves don’t need angels to produce physical events.

12. This theory is unproven.

Answer. So is physical realism. Why fail one theory by a criterion that its alternative also fails? Evolution is also unproven, but science still prefers it as the better theory.

13. This theory is based on assumptions.

Answer. So is every scientific theory. The scientific method is to assume a hypothesis then see if it works, so reverse engineering physical events is scientific (1.5.2).

14. Denying the axiom that there is nothing outside the physical universe opens the floodgates to let anything convenient through, no matter how unlikely or even absurd.

Answer. The axiom that there is nothing outside the physical universe is just that, an axiom, and no floodgates open when science questions an axiom. Asking a question about the physical world is science, even if it happens to be is it all there is? If the scientific method is maintained, convenient fantasies won’t get through. The only danger is that we abandon science for the tradition of physicalism.

15. This theory would end science, as you can’t study what you can’t by definition see.

Answer. Yes you can, as quantum theory shows (1.2.6). Science studies quarks no-one can see and survives. Science will only end if we stop asking questions (1.5.1).

16. A theory that postulates the unseen is not scientific.

Answer. This is logical positivism, a simplistic nineteenth century fallacy now discredited in many discipline (3.9.2). Quantum theory postulates the unseen and it is still a science because it predicts observable effects.

17. This theory can never be decided.

Answer. Of course it can. Science compares theories based on observable evidence. If it can decide that our universe had a beginning, it can decide if it is generated or not.

18. This theory contradicts Occam’s razor.

Answer. Occam’s razor is to prefer the simplest theory that fits the facts (1.6.1). Last century it favored physical realism but today, when space bends, time dilates, and electrons teleport, it cuts the other way. Compare one quantum field that has one core process with the standard model‘s five fields, thirty-eight particles, sixteen charges, fourteen bosons, and twenty-four ad hoc parameters. Which is now simpler?

19. This is not mainstream physics.

Answer. Of course it isn’t. Nothing new is ever mainstream.

20. This is a crazy idea.

Answer. That doesn’t make it untrue. That the earth went around the sun was once a crazy idea. Science advances by testing crazy ideas.

21. This is just another God theory.

Answer. Not so. God theories don’t constraint God but reverse engineering physical events is constrained by quantum theory (1.5.2). Quantum theory limits what the quantum world can do, so it isn’t a God theory.

22. Is the programmer God?

Answer. Depends what God means. If God means an ultimate reality like the Brahman of Hinduism, the Suchness of Buddhism, or the Tao of Taoism, then there is no person to be the programmer. A godlike person like Krishna or Jesus could write a program but if we have choice, it wouldn’t have control, and if we don’t, why bother? A God that transcends the physical world as both the Bible and Koran say could direct it in some way, but not really as a programmer. 

23. This model implies a phantom spirit world reality, alongside the physical world.

Answer. No, dualistic religions do that. This model implies that the phantom world alongside reality is the physical world we see, so the quantum world is the great smoky dragon that breathed our physical world into existence (3.9.6).

24. Does this mean that everything we see is just information in various forms?

Answer. Everything we see is based on our senses, which the brain turns into nerve information, so in that sense you are correct. But information doesn’t exist alone, as it depends on physical states, so is everything we see also just matter in various forms? In this model, information is just a way to observe physical events, and physical events are just a way to observe quantum events, so the reality out there isn’t information or matter but quantum processing, based on qubits not the bits of information (2.1.4).

25. Where are the equations?

Answer. We have them already. For example, Schrödinger’s equation describes a processing wave expanding in three-dimensions, but where is the meaning?

26. Equations that work are enough. Physics doesn’t need meaning.

Answer. This is the Copenhagen doctrine that it is enough to carry on calculating (3.1.4). If you are happy with this, then fine, but why stop others asking what the equations mean?

27. I don’t think the world is a fake.

Answer. Neither do I (1.4.5). A virtual reality is fake if it has no effect outside itself, so Monopoly money works in the game but is fake outside it. Likewise, if our physical world is a virtual reality, what occurs within it has no value outside it. However if our universe is evolving consciousness (6.3.13), it has a value outside itself so it isn’t fake.

28. If the physical world is virtual, then we don’t really exist!

Answer. Sort of. If the physical world is virtual, then you don’t exist in it, just as you don’t exist inside a game you are playing. Your avatar represents you in the game, but pixels interacting with pixels don’t experience anything, so the observer has to be outside the game because nothing inside can do the job. If your body is your avatar in this world, the player observing can’t be physical, so you could exist, but not inside the world you observe (6.3.1).

29. Whoever is playing my character is pretty boring.

Answer. Sorry about that. Have you tried all the options? Try pressing different buttons.

30. This contradicts common sense.

Answer. Common sense also told us that the sun went around the earth, but it doesn’t.

31. This is not a new idea.

Answer. True. It goes back at least to Plato’s story of prisoners in a cave, taking their shadows on the wall to be reality (3.9.6). Modern virtualism advocates include Conrad Zuse, Edward Fredkin, and Tom Campbell.

32. Why would anyone create a world like this?

Answer. We can only guess. Perhaps reality wanted to know itself and this was the only way? Our universe is a vast enterprise, created at great cost, so it probably isn’t pointless.

33. This theory makes no difference in practice.

Answer. Yes it does. If light created matter, all the money spent colliding matter should have been spent colliding light (4.5.9), and the 30 billion dollar Higgs project just found another dead-end in the evolution of matter (4.4.7). Think of all the time and money wasted on WIMPs that don’t exist (4.7.6), proton decay that doesn’t happen, and bosons that aren’t real.

34. Are paranormal powers like healing and precognition implied?

Answer. They aren’t ruled out but why build a virtual world that lets players flout the rules? There aren’t any obvious glitches here. That our universe is based on quantum laws rather physical laws doesn’t mean there is a magical way to evade them.

35. Could the experiments at CERN start a new big bang?

Answer. No. The primal reality created our universe from itself, in a chain–reaction that made all the photons of our universe. Since then, no new photons have been created or destroyed, though some became matter. Over billions of years our universe has experienced extremes beyond anything we do, and it is still here. To think that we can harm the quantum world is like online Sims thinking they can harm our world.

36. Is this Seth Lloyd’s theory that the Universe is in fact a giant quantum computer?

Answer. No. Lloyd’s quantum computer is embedded in a fixed space and time, which contradicts relativity. A quantum computer inside our space and time can’t create them as the big bang is said to have done. The quantum processing proposed here can create our space and time because it doesn’t exist within them.

37. Does this imply the existence of a Creator?

Answer. If by Creator you mean a super-being who created us by a miracle, then no, as we evolved. If you mean that our universe had a first cause outside itself, then yes.

38. How does this relate to Leonard Susskind’s Holographic Principle?

Answer. It implies it. The holographic principle, that everything physically knowable about a spatial volume transmits across the surface around it, is a necessary prediction of quantum realism (3.8.6).

39. Is this panpsychism?

Answer. No. Panpsychism is that all the physical parts of nature (pan) have a psyche, which is a mind or spirit however you interpret the Greek word. It relates to Plato’s anima mundi, that a vital essence or pneuma (breath) animates the physical world. As Nagel concluded, panpsychism accepts materialism, that matter exists in and of itself, which this model denies (6.1.8). Matter that doesn’t exist in itself can’t contain anything, let alone a spirit.

40. Does quantum realism support evolution?

Answer. Yes, but expands it to include the evolution of matter (4.8.3), so matter evolved as well as life, and still does so today in stars by nucleosynthesis. Evolution in this sense began when our universe did. 

41. Is there a place for the soul in quantum realism?

Answer. In religious terms, the soul is your immaterial part, that after death can transition to the heavenly abode of God, be burned in hell, or even return to earth in another body. The dualism implied, that souls exist apart from bodies, seems simple but raises questions, like why can’t a soul just leave the body for heaven right now, unless it isn’t allowed for some reason? In contrast, quantum realism has no duality, so quantum waves on a tiny scale create simple physical events from which complex bio-systems like bodies emerge. They then inevitably dissolve back into the quantum sea, like rivers returning to the ocean, so nothing is lost but equally nothing personal like a soul remains. The evolution of brains however changes this, as if neural entanglement allows the non-physical observer we call I, could that be a soul? Even then, a soul made by a brain needs something else to maintain it after death. Quantum realism then allows the possibility of a soul, but not its certainty.

42. What about Einstein’s statement that “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

Answer. The physical world that we see is an illusion, but that doesn’t mean the observer of it is an illusion.

43. So does consciousness cause quantum effects, as suggested by Von Neumann and Henry Stapp, or does quantum activity cause consciousness, as suggested by Penrose?

Answer. Quantum theory describes quantum waves that interact to cause physical events. What generates and restarts those waves also provides the ability to observe and choose, so consciousness as the ability to observe and choose is an inherent  property of quantum reality. Penrose’s proposal that consciousness arises from quantum activity works on the cell scale. Tubulin synchrony lets billions of cell molecules act in a unified way, but it isn’t enough for human consciousness. That requires billionsof brain nerves to synchronize in a network resonance. Penrose proposed the cell part of the evolution of consciousness.

44. Magritte painted a picture of a pipe entitled “This is not a pipe”. Is this picture less real than the pipe he painted or are both real if I remember a pipe in my mind? Is the pipe painted by Magritte less real in my memory than the pipe that was a model for Magritte’s picture?

Answer. Layer upon layer doesn’t alter the fundamentals. A painting of a pipe is a physical symbol of a physical object, so it isn’t a pipe as Magritte said. A memory of a pipe is a neural reconstruction and so isn’t a pipe either. The pipe Magritte painted was made of atoms that are mostly empty space generated by quantum waves that aren’t physical at all so it isn’t the pipe as we imagine it. Seeing a pipe, remembering a pipe, and painting a pipe are real events but what is seen, remembered, or painted is not a pipe. The physical world should come with a label “This is not reality”.

45. Is consciousness, the feeling of “I”, part of the brain? Is it independent of the physical realm? Is it simply the experience of reality? An emergent concept or a world in itself?

Answer. The feeling of “I” can’t come from the brain or anything physical at all. Yet the ability to observe relates to physical events because without them, observation is impossible. The experience of reality is real but the reality experienced isn’t, as how can dead matter become conscious? Consciousness is, as you say, a world in itself, yet it needs physical events for some reason, or our universe wouldn’t exist.

46. What is conscious and what isn’t?

Answer. Everything is conscious on some scale. We can’t imagine a photon being conscious but evolution is step by step, so no line can separatet the first photons from us. In physics, a photon knows when a physicist blocks one of two slits and changes its behavior accordingly, to no longer produce an interference pattern. The only reasonable conclusion is that when a photon interacts with say an electron, it observes it on an infinitesimal scale.

47. Are we dreaming?

Answer. That life is a dream is solipsism, that the universe is created by our minds (1.2.4). A dream needs a dreamer but our universe doesn’t need humanity to dream it because it existed for billions of years before we came along. If we die out something else will take our place – maybe rats will evolve sentience. We need to save our planet to save our species, not to save it. Life is not a dream because our acts have a real effect, on ourselves.

48. What about free will? Do we have choice?

Answer. Everything does. Choice existed from the beginning as a quantum reality property. We think only we choose but it began with the first light, as no physical history can predict where a photon hits a screen. It and it alone defines where its quantum wave collapses in a physical event, in a choice. In the same way, we choose where brain waves collapse, to be a thought, feeling or action, and that changes the future timeline for ourselves and others. We choose what we do but others do too, so we don’t always get what we wantt.

49. I don’t understand how everything observes, even a photon. How can a photon observe?

Answer. It can at the Planck scale of time and space. In delayed choice experiments, photons change their behavior when observed (3.8.3), so when we observe a photon, it also observes us, but not on our scale. We can’t see events less than a millisecond, so a 60 frame per second movie seems continuous to us, but animals can observe faster than that. If consciousness evolved from what came before, then even photons must have infinitesimal observations (6.1.8).

50. Is time travel possible?

Answer. No. Quantum theory implies that the past is gone and the future is undefined, so neither exist right now. One can’t travel to what doesn’t exist, and to do so create impossible paradoxes (2.3.2). We have to live in the ever-present here and the eternal now.

Current science definitions followed by their quantum realism (QR) interpretation.
Click on the term to go to a section with more detail. Download Entire Glossary.

Anti-matter. Every matter particle has an anti-matter version with the same mass but opposite charge and magnetism, for a reason that current physics can’t explain.
QR: Anti-matter occurs when matter processing runs in reverse, to give the same net processing (mass) but opposite remainder (charge) and spin (magnetism).

Anti-time. Feynman diagrams show anti-matter going backwards in time, for a reason that current physics can’t explain.
QR: Anti-matter runs matter processing in reverse, so its time runs in reverse.

Asynchrony. When processors cycle at their own rate with no common clock.
QR: The quantum network is asynchronous but the transfer of light tends to synchronize it.

Attention. The ability to focus on an experience, like a sound, sight, or smell.
QR: The collapse of a global neural entanglement at a point in the brain’s electro-magnetic field.  

Bandwidth. The capacity of a channel to transfer information or processing.
QR: One quantum channel has a bandwidth of one quantum process, which is one photon.

Being. A person or thing that exists (Cambridge Dictionary).
QR: The server that chooses where a quantum wave restarts and observes the physical event.

Big bang. That all the matter-energy of the universe expanded from a point singularity.
QR: The universe began with a little rip in the quantum fabric, not a big bang singularity.

Black hole. A matter singularity whose gravity is so strong that light can’t escape from it.
QR: A region of space whose bandwidth is full, not a singularity.

Blindsight. The ability to catch a ball while not conscious of seeing anything at all.

Boson. An integer spin particle like a photon that can’t collide with similar bosons.
QR: If extreme light collided to create matter, bosons can potentially collide.

Brain waves. Electro-magnetic waves caused by neural synchrony that scalp electrodes detect.

Breit-Wheeler process. A process that lets photons create electron-positron pairs, i.e. matter.

Cartesian space. A linear space defined by orthogonal real coordinates (x, y, z, …).
QR: A space that expands at its edges from a center in itself, unlike our space which is expanding everywhere at once from no center within it.

Casimir effect. Two conducting plates placed close together in a vacuum experience a force pushing them together, so empty space can’t be empty.

Cerebellum. Part of the brain that bulges out from its base and contains about 80% of its nerves.

Channel. A link between network points that can transfer processing, up to its bandwidth.
QR: A channel between adjacent points of the space network can transfer one quantum process.

Channel set. The set of channels that transfers a light ray with photons in all polarization planes.

Charge. An inherent matter property that causes electrical effects, unrelated to mass.
QR: Matter is quantum processing constantly restarting, where the constant net value produced is mass, and the constant remainder is charge, so mass and charge are related.

Childhood amnesia. The inability to remember events before a certain age, because the limbic system that lays down memories hasn’t yet matured enough to do so.

Choice. The ability to independently select one from a set of possible physical results, which exists because no physical history can predict quantum events like radiation.
QR: Quantum theory allows choice because where a quantum wave restarts in a physical event depends on server choices made outside the physical world.

Client-server relation. A network relation that partitions work between a server and a client, so a server laptop sending data to a printer client can restart the job if it fails.
QR: A photon wave that restarts after it spreads must also be a client-server relation because the wave can’t restart itself, so a server is needed to do that.

Coherence. Waves are coherent if their frequency and form are identical. When nearby coherent quantum waves restart, they entangle into a single entity or ensemble.

Complex plane. The plane into which light waves vibrate, which is said to be imaginary.
QR: If a dimension outside space exists, the complex plane isn’t imaginary.

Consciousness. The unalloyed capacity to experience a physical event, often assumed to be limited to human beings.
QR: The ability to experience physical events is inherent to all quantum entities, so consciousness isn’t limited to human beings.

Conservation of photons. That the number of photons in the universe has been constant since inflation ended, whether they are free or trapped in matter.

Copenhagen interpretation. That quantum waves can exist for the purpose of physics equations without actually existing, so quantum theory is a useful description of nothing.
QR: Quantum waves actually exist, so quantum theory isn’t a theory of nothing.

Corpus callosum. The 800 million nerves that connect the hemispheres of the brain. If cut, consciousness divides to give each hemisphere its own consciousness.

Cortex. The folded layer of nerves that evolved from the forebrain to wrap around the midbrain and the hindbrain. It occupies 80% of the human brain but only has 20% of its nerves.

Cosmic microwave background. White hot light from the early universe that is now cold due to the expansion of space, and is still all around us for some unknown reason.
QR: Cosmic microwave background is still around us because space is a hypersphere surface.

Cycle rate. Processing cycles per second, so a gigahertz processor is a billion cycles/second.
QR: The quantum cycle rate is about ten million, trillion, trillion, trillion cycles per second.

Dark energy. A negative energy that pushes the universe apart, which physics can’t explain.
QR: A negative energy caused by the expansion of space, as new points of space receive but don’t transmit processing for their first cycle.

Dark matter. An invisible halo of mass that gives galaxies more gravity than their stars and planets allow, and so stops them flying apart.
QR: A black hole at the center of a galaxy traps a light halo around it, to create a net mass that isn’t visible as matter particles.

Delayed choice experiment. A two-slit experiment where an observation made after a photon passes through the slits decides its past path, so the future can alter the past.
QR: The physical path of a photon wave is chosen by the instance that restarts it in the physical event that occurs when it arrives, so the future doesn’t alter the past.

Deliverance premise. That human beings can survive death thanks to the divinity within them.

Dependence premise. That a divine being created the physical world, so it depends on it to exist.

Distributed processing. Processing shared between processors that runs slower not less.

Divinity premise. That there is an unseen primal reality underlying the physical world.

Down quark. A first-generation quark that has a minus one third charge for no known reason.
QR: A head-head-tail three-way collision of extreme light that almost completes the channels of a plane, with a minus one-third quantum process remainder.

Dualism. That two different realities co-exist, a mind substance and a body substance.

Egocentric speech. A running spoken commentary on perceived actions generated by the intellect, usually in young children.

Einstein’s equation. E=mc² That the energy of matter is its mass times the speed of light squared.
QR: This equation can be derived from the definition of matter as a standing wave of light.

Electric field. A field that surrounds a charge to attract or repel other charges.
QR: A quantum remainder gradient that moves charged matter by biasing its natural tremble.

Electro-magnetic field. A field whose electrical and magnetic aspects cause each other.
QR: The quantum field remainder and spin cause electricity and magnetism respectively.

Electro-magnetic spectrum. All the frequencies of light, including radio waves and X-rays.
QR: All the frequencies of a photon are one quantum process distributed more or less.

Electron. An elementary particle with a negative charge that exists at a point with no extent.
QR: A head-head standing wave of extreme light that repeatedly overloads all the channels of a point axis, with a minus one quantum process remainder that never runs.

Electron shell. Electrons occupy shells/sub-shells in an atom based on ad hoc quantum numbers.
QR: Electron occupy shells/sub-shells based on their wave radius, harmonic, and direction.

Electron spin. An electron half-spins because only half its spin can be measured.
QR: An electron half-spins because its photons spin in two orthogonal directions in quantum space, so only half of them are observable from any direction.

Elementary particle. Any matter particle that accelerator collisions can’t break apart is said to be elementary, to exist at a point with no size or structure.
QR: The elementary particles of physics are entangled photons that restart in a standing wave.

Emotion. A neural representation of reality by the limbic system based on visceral sensations and emotional memory.

Empty space. Space that contains no physical matter or light should be nothing at all, but it isn’t.
QR: An idle network point is still null processing, so empty space is full of processing.

Encapsulation. That different computer processes can’t input each other’s output, so different brain regions can’t exchange results any more than Notepad and Paint can.

Energy. The capacity to perform work, which can be kinetic (by movement), radiant (by light frequency), heat (by temperature), or potential (by gravitational position).
QR: Energy as the quantum processing transfer rate at a point explains all the above except potential energy, which isn’t an energy at all.

Ensemble. When quantum entities entangle to become one entity, it is called an ensemble.

Entanglement. When entangled photons move in opposite directions, observing the spin of either, which is random, instantly makes the other the opposite, regardless of distance.
QR: Entangled photons merge their opposite-spin servers to run both, so observing the spin of either restarts one server, leaving the opposite-spin server to run the other photon. The effect ignores distance because client-server relations ignore client distances.

Entrainment. The tendency of nearby oscillations to become synchronous.

Entropy. The disorder of a system is the number of possible microscopic states that can produce its macroscopic state.
QR: Quantum events increase disorder by exploring every microscopic option.

Evolution. An iterative process that changes biological species, based on the generation of offspring that continue traits, the variation of those traits, and the selection of those that survive. Evolution tends to increase order, as simple structures become more complex.
QR: Quantum events allow matter to evolve by a similar iterative process, based on generation, variation, and the natural selection of entities that survive by being stable. For example, matter evolves in atoms, molecules, and stars to become more complex. 

Existence. The state of being real, so an event can exist when observed, but a particle must exist whether it is observed or not.
QR: Physical particles don’t exist when they aren’t observed, except as quantum waves.

Experiential science. The science of reported human experiences.

Extreme light. The highest possible frequency of light, with a two Planck length wavelength.

Family generations. Electrons, neutrinos, and quarks have three generations, each like the last but heavier, then no more, and the standard model can’t explain why.
QR: Higher electron, neutrino, and quark generations occur because space has two extra dimensions into which their wave structures can repeat, then no more.

Fermion. The standard model divides elementary particles into fermions that collide as matter does, and bosons that overlap as light does.
QR. If extreme light collided to create matter, the boson-fermion division isn’t valid.

Field. A mathematical technique that assigns a value to every point in space, which is equivalent to assuming another dimension of space.
QR: Every different field of physics assumes one or more extra dimensions of space.

Field theory. The theory that invisible fields spawn virtual particles that explain how forces like gravity act at a distance.
QR: The quantum field explains what field theory does without inventing unverifiable particles that magically appear and disappear to cause effects.

Gauss’s flux law. A flux spreading in three dimensions reduces as the square of its radius.
QR: Gauss’s law applied to quantum waves explains the inverse-square laws of gravity, magnetism, and charge.

General relativity. That matter changes space and time to cause an acceleration that is gravity.
QR: Matter spreads a quantum field gradient that biases the natural tremble of other matter towards itself.

Gluons. Massless virtual particles that are said to bind quarks in the atomic nucleus.
QR: Quarks bind by photon sharing, so gluons are unnecessary causal agents.

Goldilocks effect. That our universe has an unreasonable number of physical parameters set just right for life, without which we couldn’t have evolved.
QR: Life is fine-tuned to our universe because it evolved within it, just as crocodiles are fine-tuned to rivers because they evolved in them.

Graviton. A virtual particle invented to explain gravity, based on no evidence at all.
QR: The quantum field gradient around matter causes gravity, so gravitons are unnecessary.

Gravity. A force caused by matter that acts at a distance to move other matter towards it.
QR: A bias in the natural tremble of matter caused by the quantum field gradient of other matter.

Grounded theory. A scientific method that iteratively acquires data to form a predictive theory.
QR: Reverse engineering physical events is an example of grounded theory.

Just-in-time computing. The practice of making choices at the last possible moment.
QR: Photons follow this practice by choosing a physical path when they arrive at a destination.

Kinetic energy. Energy associated with the movement of matter.
QR: Matter moves faster by acquiring photons that bias its movement in a direction.

Hidden variables. The theory that hidden physical causes explain quantum theory.
QR: The hidden variable is quantum waves, which aren’t physical.

Higgs particle. A virtual particle that explains other virtual particles that explain neutron decay.
QR: Another unnecessary agent invented by the standard model of particles.

Holographic principle. That everything physically knowable about a volume of space transmits across the surface surrounding it.
QR: That the physical world is a virtual reality requires the holographic principle to be true.

Huygens principle. That light is a wave spreading out, with each point a new wave source.
QR: Describes a processing wave passed on by instantiation on a processing network.

Hypersphere. A four-dimensional sphere, whose surface has three dimensions.
QR: Our space is the inner surface of a hypersphere expanding in the quantum bulk.

Idealism. That the physical world reflects something else that isn’t physical.
QR: The physical world as a virtual reality reflects quantum reality, which isn’t physical.

Inflation. That after the big bang, an immense anti-gravity field inflated it faster than light to avoid a black hole, but its source, why it was faster than light, and why it stopped are unknown.
QR: Inflation was chain reaction caused by creating the first photon in the first space, which acted faster than light until the expansion of space stopped it.

Information. A property of a physical state chosen from a set, defined as Log₂N for N states. It is undefined if N is unknown, and 0 if N=1, so a physical book has no information in itself.

Instance. A client that runs a server process runs an instance of that template.
QR: A photon wave occurs when instances of a quantum process spread on the network of space.

Instantiation. The act of providing processing to be executed independently, so any number of screen buttons can be instantiated from the same server template.
QR: A photon wave spreads as instances of one quantum process on the client network of space.

Interference. When two or more processes compete for the same resource at the same time, at least one must fail and try again, so interference increases the processing needed.
QR: In a matter entity with more than one dimension, processes competing for channels interfere to increase the net processing that is mass, so a muon has 200x the mass of an electron.

It from Bit. Wheeler’s conjecture that matter comes from some sort of information processing.
QR: Quantum realism proposes It from Qubit, that matter comes from quantum processing.

Law of all action. That everything physically possible actually occurs at the quantum scale, so whatever can happen, eventually will.
QR: The law of all action underlies both the second law of thermodynamics, which decreases order, and the evolution of matter and life, which increases order.

Law of least action. That nature always uses the least possible action for any physical event, so light always takes the fastest path to any destination.
QR: A photon always finds the fastest path to any observed destination because its waves take every path, and the first instance to arrive at the destination triggers a physical event. 

Life. A biological system that can replicate itself, whose evolution was physically impossible.
QR: Life was the inevitable result of a quantum evolution that simultaneously explored options. 

Light. A transverse vibration that can occur in empty space, into a dimension outside physical space that is said to be imaginary.
QR: Light vibrates on physical space, which is a three-dimensional surface.

Limbic System. A midbrain evolution that can lay down memories (Hippocampus), receive sensory input (Thalamus), recognize threats (Amygdala) and cause body states (Hypothalamus).

Little rip. The big bang was really a little client-server rip in the fabric of quantum reality.

Local reality. A reality that is real from within but not from without, just as Monopoly money affects what you can buy in the game but has no value outside the game.
QR: The physical world is a local reality with respect to the quantum reality that creates it.

Magnetic field. A field that surrounds a magnet to attract or repel other magnets.
QR: A quantum field spin gradient that moves magnetic matter by biasing its quantum tremble.

Many-worlds theory. The theory that every quantum choice spawns a new universe.
QR: A zombie theory invented by physicists to explain away quantum choice.

Mass. The property of matter that prevents other matter from existing in the same space.
QR: Mass is the net quantum processing that runs per cycle for matter, as a quantum standing wave that repeatedly runs on the network of space excludes other matter.

Mass problem. That the mass of a complex matter entity is more than its constituents, so the mass of a proton made of three quarks is 100 times that of three quarks.
QR: Mass is the net processing that runs, so when processes interfere, mass increases.

Materialism. The belief that matter is the substance in the void that causes all physical events.
QR: If quantum waves cause all matter, then matter doesn’t itself cause anything (6.1.8).

Matter. An inert physical substance that occupies a space to keep other matter out.
QR: Matter is a quantum standing wave that occupies space by constantly running there first.

Matter time. Time passes for matter when it completes a forward processing cycle, and for anti-matter when it completes a backward cycle, so anti-matter time is the reverse of matter time. Even so, a physical event can’t be reversed because a reboot is irreversible.

Meaning. The observer experience generated by a brain based on the information it gathers.

QR: Artificial intelligence (AI) analyzes information but doesn’t know what it means.

Measurement problem. That quantum waves can’t be observed because any attempt to do so collapses them to a point physical event that entangles them.
QR: A quantum wave can’t be observed because a camera can’t take a photo of itself.

Meson. A particle mix that has zero spin, so is said to be a boson that carries no force.
QR: A meson has zero spin because its matter and antimatter spins cancel, so it isn’t a boson.

Monism. The theory that only one type of reality exists.
QR: Quantum realism and physicalism are both monisms.

Movement. A change in the spatial location of light or matter.
QR: Light and matter move differently, by point-to-point transfer and teleporting respectively.

Multiverse. That every quantum choice creates a new universe for every possibility.
QR: A zombie theory that replaces the clockwork universe with a clockwork multiverse.

Murphy’s law. The law that if anything can go wrong, it probably will.
QR: Ordered systems have more ways to go wrong than right, so the quantum flux will probably find them.

Network. A set of processing points that connect by channels that exchange data.
QR: Each point of the space network is a quantum processor that connects to its neighbors.

Network density. The ratio of actual to possible connections that defines how many neighbors each network point connects to.
QR: The network density of space defines Planck’s constant.

Neural synchrony. When nerves constantly fire at precisely the same time.

Neutral Monism. That mind and matter both arise from a more primal reality.
QR: That quantum reality causes mind and matter is a neutral monism.

Neutrino. An elementary matter particle with no charge but a tiny variable mass.
QR: An asynchronous head-tail collision of extreme light has no processing remainder to cause charge, and the collision asynchrony produces a tiny but variable mass.

Neutrino asymmetry. Neutrinos always spin left, so the universe is left-handed.
QR: Our universe is left-handed because the first photon chose to spin left and others followed. 

Neutron. The neutral result when an up quark and two down quarks combine.
QR: When these quarks share photons in a closed triangle, no quantum processing remains.

Nihilism. The belief that everything is pointless so our choices don’t matter, e.g. the scientific nihilism that the cosmos has no purpose so nothing we do matters.
QR: Our universe as a virtual reality is a vast investment, so it probably exists for a reason.

No-cloning theorem. That quantum states can’t be copied because to read a quantum state requires a physical event that destroys it.
QR: Physical events can’t duplicate quantum states but the server that generates them can.

Node. A network point, like a person in a social network, a processor in a computer network, or text in a hyperlink network.
QR: If space is a processing network, points can receive, run, and transfer quantum processing.

Non-physical detection. Detecting an object without physically touching it is impossible in a purely physical world, but it happens in our world.
QR: Objects that block quantum waves without triggering a physical event can be detected.

Nuclear fission. Breaking apart atomic nuclei to release energy, as in atom bombs.

Nuclear fusion. Joining nuclei to create energy, as Hydrogen forms Helium in stars.
QR: How simpler atoms combine into more complex ones.

Nucleosynthesis. How stars and supernovae evolve higher atoms from lower ones.
QR: All the atoms of the periodic table evolved stepwise by nucleosynthesis.

Nucleus. The center of an atom that has nearly all its mass, made of one or more protons plus neutrons, that sit together like fruit in a bowl bound by the strong force.
QR: A nucleus is a closed quark string held together by photon sharing that needs at least one neutron per two protons, so it is a unified entity not a fruit bowl aggregate.

Null process. Processing that produces no net result, like a computer idling.
QR: Empty space is quantum null processing not emptiness.

Observation levels. The observation levels of science include physical, informational, experiential, and social, plus a quantum level that provides the observer.

Observer. The final destination of any information produced by a physical event.
QR: Every physical event has an observer on some scale, not just those that involve us.

Observer effect. That how one observes a quantum entity alters what is observed.
QR: The observer effect arises because all physical events are observations.

Occam’s razor. That theories shouldn’t multiply causes unnecessarily, so if two theories explain the same facts, prefer the simpler one.
QR: If one quantum field explains what many current fields do, it is a simpler theory.

Order. A reduction in the degrees of freedom of a physical system, which is the number of independent ways it can change, so ice is more ordered than water because it is crystalline.
QR: When quantum entities entangle into a single unit, order increases because the number of independent ways it can change reduces.

Panpsychism. The theory that all matter is conscious to some degree.
QR: If matter doesn’t exist except as a view, it can’t have the property of consciousness. 

Particle. Current physics calls any accelerator energy spike, however brief, a particle.
QR: An energy spike is an event not a particle, just as a lightning bolt is. 

Pass-it-on protocol. A network protocol where points first pass on their processing to their neighbors, then run whatever processing they receive, so no transfer is ever lost.
QR: The proposed transfer protocol for the network of space.

Pauli exclusion rule. The observation that opposite-spin electrons can co-exist at the same point.
QR: Applies because opposite-spin electrons at a point occupy different quantum spaces.

Periodic table. A table of matter elements arranged by the number of protons in an atom.
QR: The periodic table represents how the elements of matter evolved.

Photon. The smallest pulse of light, with a frequency, polarization plane, and direction.
QR: One quantum process distributed more or less over many points of space.

Physical event. The result of physical particles colliding.
QR: Physical events occur when quantum waves overload the network of space.

Physicalism. The theory that physical matter and energy in space and time cause all effects, so nothing exists outside the physical universe.
QR: A theory that struggles to explain the observations of physics, e.g. that space expands.

Physical realism. The theory that physical things exist by themselves alone.
QR: Both physicalism and dualism assume physical realism.

Physical state. The result of a physical event that is said to exist apart from observation.
QR: There are no physical states, only observation events between quantum events.

Physical world. The set of all observable physical events.
QR: The world of physical events is caused entirely by quantum events.

Planar circle. A circle around a point in space of all its neighbors in that plane, that represents all possible directions from that point in that plane.

Planck’s constant. The smallest possible unit of energy exchange.
QR: The transfer of one quantum process per cycle, which is the smallest energy exchange.

Planck’s relation. A photon’s energy is Planck’s constant times its frequency (E=h.f).
QR: If a photon is a distributed quantum process spreading on a network, E=h.f can be deduced.

Planck length. The smallest possible observable physical length.
QR: The Planck length is the distance between adjacent points of the network of space.

Planck time. The smallest possible observable physical time.
QR: The Planck time is the completion of one quantum cycle, which is one tick of our time.

Plato’s cave. That we exist like prisoners in a cave who see their own shadows on a wall from the sunlight behind them, and take them to be real.
QR: If the physical world is a shadow of the quantum sunlight, this analogy is valid.

Point particle. An elementary particle with no spatial extent, like a quark, that can fill space thanks to virtual particles from invisible fields.
QR: Points of space with no extent can fill space as pixels fill a screen.

Polar space. A space defined by orthogonal circles, where a point has coordinates (r, θ, φ, …), with r the radius and the rest are angular directions.
QR: Space as a hypersphere surface can be represented by three polar coordinates.

Positivism. The nineteenth century fallacy that science should refer to what can be physically observed, so quantum theory isn’t scientific.
QR: Quantum theory is scientific because it predicts observable physical events.

Potential energy. The energy that matter has due to its position in a gravitational field.
QR: Potential energy doesn’t exist because gravity isn’t a force.

Program. Processing stored as static information that can be read and executed.
QR: The physical world can’t be both the program that executes and its output.

Processing. The act of creating or changing information, which can be stored as static data that can be loaded and executed.
QR: Processing that is running can’t store itself because to do so is another process, so a network that constantly runs quantum processes can’t use any static storage.

Proton. The positively charged result when two up quarks combine with one down quark.
QR: Quarks sharing photons in a triangle have a positive remainder of one quantum process.

Ptolemy’s standard model. The medieval standard model, that heavenly bodies move in perfect circles, or circles within circles (epicycles), around the earth. It wasn’t true, but it explained star movements for centuries, as followers modified it to fit new discoveries.
QR: The standard model of physics today isn’t true either, but followers modify it with invisible fields, virtual particles, and imaginary charges to fit any new discoveries.

Quantum collapse. When a quantum wave stops and restarts at a point in a physical event.
QR: When quantum waves overload points in space, one can reboot and restart it.

Quantum direction. The direction outside space into which a light wave vibrates.
QR: The polarization plane of a photon is at right angles to its quantum direction of vibration.  

Quantum field. The quantum wave values in space that cause electro-magnetism and gravity.
QR: The quantum field explains electrical, magnetic, gravitational, strong, and weak effects, so no other fields are needed. 

Quantum network. The network of space that spreads light waves.

Quantum paradox. That unreal quantum events cause real physical events.
QR: If real quantum events cause virtual physical events, there is no paradox.

Quantum process. The fundamental process of the quantum network, that sets a circle of values at right angles to the surface of space.

Quantum processing. Processing based on qubits rather than bits.
QR: Quantum processing is essentially the processing of processing.

Quantum randomness. No prior physical history can predict events like atomic radiation.
QR: Quantum collapse is random to us because it is a server restart choice that occurs outside the physical world we see.

Quantum realism. The theory that real quantum events cause all physical events as quantum theory describes, so nothing in the physical world exists by or of itself alone.

Quantum space. The four-dimensional space defined by quantum network connections.

Quantum spin. The imaginary rotation of an elementary entity into a dimension outside space.
QR: The real rotation of a quantum structure into a dimension outside our space.

Quantum tunneling. When a matter entity appears outside a barrier it can’t travel through.
QR: When a matter entity teleports to a point in its quantum field, which is how it always moves.

Quantum wave. A wave that vibrates in an imaginary dimension outside space.
QR: A wave that really vibrates into a quantum dimension outside our space.

Quarks. Elementary particles with one-third charges that aren’t stable alone.
QR: The phase options when three extreme light rays collide at a point to almost fill the channels of a plane, so one quark isn’t stable but groups of them are semi-stable.

Quark string. A stable string of quarks that closes back on itself by sharing photons at an angle, e.g. a string of three quarks that form a closed triangle is a proton or neutron. The nucleus of every atom is a closed string of quarks that folds back on itself.

Reboot. When a processor restarts its activity from scratch, e.g. when it overloads.
QR: When a point of space overloads, it reboots, and the processing restart is a physical event.

Realism. That an external reality exists apart from our observation of it.
QR: In physical realism, that reality is physical, but in quantum realism, it is quantum.

Reality. That which actually exists physically, independent of the observer.
QR: In an observer-observed reality like ours, any observation that validly reflects what actually exists, which is quantum, is in effect real, so science can study it.

Relativity principle. That physical laws are the same in every reference frame.
QR: Matter moves by changing the space around it to keep this principle true.

Reliability. That a measurement result is repeatable by others. See here.

Renormalization. A mathematical method that makes the infinities of field theory go away if particles affect other particles, hence the need for virtual particles.
QR: Renormalization is the mathematical trick that lets unreal particles explain real effects.

Reverse engineering. The iterative method of deducing a process by observing its output.
QR: Quantum realism reverse engineers physical events to deduce quantum processes.

Schema. A sensorimotor sequence created by the cerebellum that represents a motor activity.

Second law of thermodynamics. That the disorder of a closed system inevitably increases over time, so our universe as a whole isn’t evolving to increase order.
QR: The same quantum law that increases disorder also increases order by discovering entanglements that survive, so our universe as a whole is evolving, even as it devolves.

Server. A source that can pass processing to one or more clients that run it.
QR: The source of a spreading photon wave is a server that can restart it at a point.

Schrödinger’s cat. An attempt to extend quantum superposition to a live/dead cat.
QR: The superposition isn’t maintained because the cat knows when it dies.

Science. A way to ask questions of observed reality, not a fixed set of facts about it.
QR: Quantum realism is compatible with science but not the theory of physical realism.

Simulation hypothesis. That our physical reality is a simulation so realistic that its participants are unaware that it isn’t real, as described in The Matrix movie.
QR: A simulation represents another physical reality, but our virtual reality doesn’t represent anything else, so it isn’t a simulation.

Singularity. The prediction that the matter of a black hole exists at a point of infinite density, based on extrapolating equations infinitely.
QR: A black hole is a region of space whose bandwidth is full, so there is no singularity.

Solipsism. That the physical world exists only as a dream of the mind.
QR: Quantum realism implies a real quantum world out there, so it isn’t solipsism.

Space. A three-dimensional extent that physical things exist and move in.
QR: A three-dimensional surface that can curve and vibrate to transmit waves.

Special relativity. The theory that matter somehow alters its space and time when it moves to keep the speed of light constant.
QR: A theory that works because matter moves by instantly changing the relative space around it, which doesn’t affect the absolute movement of light.

Speed of light. The speed at which light moves in a vacuum is constant, for an unknown reason.
QR: The speed of light is constant because the network of space transfers it at a fixed rate.

Standard model. A model that needs 5 invisible fields, 62 elementary particles, 16 charges, 14 boson particles, and 24 data-fitted parameters to explain the findings of physics.
QR: A particle model that needs untestable graviton, gluon, W-boson, and Higgs particles to explain the forces of physics, but can’t successfully predict anything new. 

Standing wave. A stationary wave form produced when waves constantly collide.
QR: An electron is a standing quantum wave produced when extreme light constantly collides at a point of space.

String theory. That one-dimensional strings vibrating in 11 dimensions explain all physics.
QR: A zombie theory whose 10⁵⁰⁰ versions don’t predict anything new.

Strong force. The force that holds quarks together in a nucleus, attributed to virtual W-bosons.
QR: Quarks in a nucleus bind by sharing photons, so W-bosons are unnecessary agents.

Superposition. If a physical equation has two solutions, only one can be true, but if a quantum equation has two solutions, both can be true in a superposition.
QR: A quantum entity can superpose to go through both of two slits at once.

Teleport. When an entity instantly moves to a point with no physical path to travel there.
QR: All matter moves by teleport, by instantly resetting its space to any point in its distribution.

The binding problem. How can a decentralized brain combine information from distant brain areas, to allow unified percepts, choices, and actions?
QR: Distant nerves synchronize and entangle into a unified entity that shares information.

The hard problem. That we experience observation despite no physical way to do that.
QR: Quantum entities observe on every scale, and larger entities observe more.

Thought. A neural representation of sensory patterns created by the neocortex.

Time. Time passes to separate events at the same point, for some unknown reason.
QR: Time passes when quantum cycles complete, so each cycle is a different physical event.

Time travel. The dimension of time is like that of space, so past and future can be travelled to.
QR: Travelling back or forward in a time dimension denies causality and choice, respectively.

Transfer problem. That a transfer between the points of a network could be lost.
QR: The pass-it-on protocol ensures that every transfer of space is accepted, as an interrupt.

Transverse circle. A circle of values transverse to the surface of space that represents a photon vibrating in its polarization plane.

Young’s two slit experiment. A light shining through two slits gives a screen interference pattern.
QR: The pattern occurs because photons are waves not particles, as quantum theory states.

Uncertainty principle. That one can know a quantum particle’s exact position or momentum but not both at once.
QR: Occurs because measuring a wave can give position or wavelength, but not both at once.

Up quark. A first-generation quark with a strange plus two-thirds charge.
QR: A head-tail-tail three-way collision of extreme light that almost fills the channels of a plane through a point of space, with a two-thirds of a quantum process remainder charge.

Validity. That a theory construct represents what it is said to represent. See here.
QR: Virtual particles are invalid constructs because no evidence that they exist is possible.

Virtual reality. A reality that is generated by another reality that contains it. 

Virtualism. That physical events are generated by some unspecified other, like a great mind, a big computer, or quantum reality.
QR: Quantum realism is the virtualism that the other is quantum reality.

Virtual particle. A particle created by a field at any point to explain a force at a distance, but can’t be validated because it is created and consumed in the physical event it explains.
QR: Virtual particles are unnecessary agents, as the quantum field explains all their effects.

Wave-particle duality. That a quantum particle can be a wave or a particle as required, although physical particles can’t act like a waves, and physical waves can’t act like particles.
QR:  Quantum entities are processing waves that restart at a point in a physical event to look like particles, but are really always waves.

Weak force. The force that turns neutrons to into protons in empty space, but the same force didn’t turn protons in space into neutrons as predicted.
QR: Neutrinos turn neutrons to into protons in space, but the reverse requires high energy electrons that only occur in stars.

Weak bosons. Virtual particles with mass that were invented to explain the weak force.
QR: If neutrinos explain the weak force, then weak bosons are unnecessary agents.

WIMPs. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles that the standard model proposed to explain dark matter, but there no evidence at all that they exist.
QR: Another standard model particle that led nowhere, like gravitons and gluons.

Zitterbewegung. The natural trembling of quantum matter predicted by quantum theory.
QR: Matter moves when the field around it biases its natural tremble one way.

Zombie theory. A scientifically dead theory that doesn’t predict but can’t be falsified, like a zombie that has no progeny but can’t be killed e.g., multiverse theory, string theory, solipsism.

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Substances can just sit there self-existing, but virtual worlds must be sustained. We make things and walk away, but virtual objects that aren’t refreshed disappear, as they don’t self-exist. Our games need power to run because their objects only exist for a moment then must be redrawn. Hence if our universe is virtual, everything in it must be constantly re-created at every instant, not just our earth but also all the galaxies we see. Starting a virtual world then, like having a child, is an ongoing commitment that grows as it does. 

If a power cut kills a computer game, we reload from the last save, but quantum processing can’t be saved (2.1.3), so our world is like an iron man game that has no saves. If it ever stopped, even once, it would have to restart from its beginning fourteen billion years ago! This means that an unbroken causal chain links our universe now back to the first event. 

Virtual worlds take effort not only to create but also to run, so they usually exist for a reason. For example, our free online multi-player games aren’t there by accident, because say someone left a server running by mistake, but because their creators benefit from them. The effort needed to run a virtual reality the size of our universe for fourteen billion years is mind-boggling, so it beggar’s belief that it exists for no reason. What then could warrant such a massive investment?

Game worlds exist for many reasons but none of them are for outcomes in those worlds. For example, Civilization is about world conquest but that isn’t why it exists, as if it was, AI players could do it better and faster. Likewise, SimCity doesn’t exist to build cities, Minecraft doesn’t exist to dig tunnels, and the Witcher game doesn’t exist to slay monsters. These worlds exist not for themselves but for their observers, so if our universe is the same, how does it benefit its observers?

This reasoning reduces the question of why our universe exists to how it benefits its observers, but is the observer a scientific concept? In fact it is, as quantum theory needs an observer to cause collapse, and relativity needs an observer frame of reference, so Wheeler’s participatory universe describes our world as an observer-observed reality. On this foundation, which also satisfies common sense, the next chapter examines whether our universe exists to grow the consciousness of its observers. This concludes Part 1, on the observed reality, and introduces Part 2, on the observer reality.

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Wilczek, F. (2008). The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether and the Unification of forces. Basic Books.

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The following questions are addressed in this chapter. They are better discussed in a group to allow a variety of opinions to emerge. The relevant section link is given after each question:

1. How can the divide between quantum theory and relativity be reconciled? (5.1.1)

2. Does relativity challenge the idea that matter is made of particles? (5.1.2)

3. If the earth is a moving platform, how fast is it carrying us? Why doesn’t it matter? (5.2.1)

4. Why did Einstein say that special relativity is why our reality isn’t weird? (5.2.2)

5. Why does our causality depend on the speed of light being constant? (5.2.3)

6. Could we travel to the next galaxy and back in a lifetime? What is the downside? (5.2.4)

7. Is mass a form of energy, energy a form of mass, or do both come from something else? (5.2.5)

8. What is zitterbewegung and what theory predicts it? (5.3.1)

9. How can a photon move at all if time stops for it, as special relativity says? (5.3.2)

10. How do solar sails convert radiant energy into kinetic energy of movement? (5.3.3)

11. How can the earth’s matter move objects towards it? (5.4.2)

12. How can gravity accelerate a free-falling object without touching it? (5.4.3)

13. How can gravity bend light if it has no mass? (5.4.4)

14. Why does gravity only attract but charges can attract or repel? (5.5.2)

15. Will physics ever find a magnetic monopole? If not, why not? (5.5.3)

16. What three matter properties give gravitational, electric and magnetic fields? (5.5.4)

17. Is energy universally conserved? (5.6.1)

18. What is universally conserved? (5.6.2)

19. How does the evolution of matter increase order? (5.6.5)

20. Will our universe end suddenly, gradually, or not at all? (5.6.6)

21. Can a world like ours arise from a physical base? If not, why not? (5.7.1)

22. If homo-sapiens is a lucky accident, is evolution the same? If not, why not? (5.7.2)

23. Why do virtual worlds exist to benefit their observers? How might our universe do that? (5.7.3)

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In current biology, evolution is a purposeless process with random outcomes, so re-running it should give different results because randomness doesn’t repeat (Gould, 1990). Yet it can also converge to the same result, as birds, bats, insects, and fish all evolved flight independently, so replaying the evolution of life might give much the same solutions (Morris, 2003).  

We can’t reverse time to re-run evolution but we can run evolutionary algorithms, programs that solve problems by imitating evolution. They first generate an initial population of possible solutions, then evaluate their fitness, to reject those that don’t work. Selected parent solutions are then combined and mutated to produce offspring that are again evaluated, and this repeats until a solution emerges. This method can solve hard problems that logical calculations can’t and if an answer exists, re-running the algorithm repeatedly finds it. The program has no purpose and is based on trial-and-error, but it always ends up in the same place, so it isn’t directionless.

Evolutionary potential studies that replay evolution with generations of simulated bacteria find that Gould’s theory that evolution never repeats is incorrect (Blount, 2017). Natural selection doesn’t plan ahead, but if the solution space is small, it isn’t just happenstance either.

If life is unlikely, as it is, evolution will find the same solutions, so replaying it will give the same results. Cells will still evolve membranes to survive and copy themselves to ensure it. Some will discover how to use solar energy by photo-synthesis, giving plants as primary producers that animals feed on as secondary consumers, and on each other, using senses like sight and smell, and flagella, fins, limbs, or wings to move. If repeating evolution gives the same results, it has a direction and so isn’t going nowhere. The tree of life then, like all trees, has an up direction, despite Gould’s contrary claim.

Figure 5.19 represents the solution space for life, and the periodic table does the same for matter. Based on cosmogenesis, hydrogen arose a few million years after the big bang but it took billions more years to make heavy elements like iron that we need to make hemoglobin in our blood. Atoms then evolved as life did, by finding ordered combinations that survive, so the evolution of matter also has a direction, because repeating it would give the same elements.

In general, evolution discovers new combinations that survive or are stable, including those that increase order. Each step leads to more possibilities, so the tree branches as it grows. Matter is the trunk that the tree of life sits on, as it produced the complex molecules needed for life, so the evolution of life was based on the evolution of matter.

Evolution has a degree as well as a direction, as its tree rises based on order-increasing steps. Some branches lead upwards, to increase order, while others extend sideways without increasing order, as when bacteria mutate. In Figure 5.19, when bacteria and archaea merged into eukaryotes, the complex cells that produced plants and animals, it was an order-increasing step. Order increases when species merge as it does when quarks and electrons merge into atoms, because when two or more entities become one, order increases as randomness reduces. The complex cells that led to plants and animals are then more evolved than bacteria, and so a higher branch on the tree of life.

In current biology, bacteria are said to be as evolved as we are, or more as they have been here longer, but time elapsed doesn’t measure evolution. Hydrogen was the first atom but it isn’t the most evolved, as stars like our sun turn it into Helium that is more evolved. Likewise, we are more evolved than bacteria because our ancestry has more order-increasing steps. We are the tip of an upper branch, while bacteria spread at its base. Evolution is described by a tree not a matrix for a reason. Fungi that spread as a matrix on the forest floor remain fungi, but a tree changes as it grows up. Likewise the tree of life increases order as it rises, as eukaryotes are more evolved than bacteria so they should be shown higher on Figure 5.19. The timeline of life shows a steady increase in order (Figure 5.20), so the height of the evolutionary tree that produced it should also reflect the degree of order achieved. 

Yet aren’t we a glorious accident, as Gould says? Of course we are. If a meteor hadn’t hit the earth 65 million years ago to wipe out 75% of all life, mammals would still be small animals hiding underground in a dinosaur world, and humans wouldn’t exist. We are an evolutionary accident, but aren’t all its products? The first atom was an accident, as was the first molecule, cell, plant, and animal, so what is new? Evolution is based on accidents but the universal trend to order isn’t an accident at all, as where a tree fruits is an accident but that it fruits isn’t.  

We are then special based on our position atop tree of life, but it doesn’t exist just for us. 99% of all species that ever lived are extinct today, so if we destroy ourselves, we may join them. Yet even if we explode our bombs in a nuclear holocaust, the earth will bloom again in a few thousand years, to let another species take our place, as we did that of the dinosaurs. Life finds a way, but isn’t fussy about which one. Homo-sapiens is the lucky ape that won the evolutionary lottery, but some species had to because sentient life is possible, so evolution will find it. 

Evolution affects all life, as the sun shines on all, but some call this indifference:

“The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. … DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.” (Dawkins, 1995), p133.

Yet if we all dance to the music of our genes, Dawkins does too, as he re-invents the old universe is a machine theory in biology terms. Quantum theory debunked that idea last century by letting photons make choices, and evolution debunks it today by letting creatures do the same, so genes don’t entirely determine our future. Biological nihilism, like physical nihilism, leads nowhere and fails at the same hurdle, that choice exists on every scale.

The permutations and combinations of life are so vast that no design can predict them, so evolution is a good strategy. Everything connects, so who knows what will produce value? For example, fungi are neither plants nor animals but they help forests thrive and gave us penicillin, so they aren’t pointless. Evolution doesn’t make errors as we do because given two paths, it takes both, just as quantum reality does. It does however take time, so while life began almost as soon as it could, the early fossil record has no complex life because it hadn’t evolved yet.  

Our universe isn’t a machine manufacturing a product to a pre-ordained blueprint, but an evolution trying every possibility, as if it was looking for something. It is like an algorithm set up to solve a problem, but what then is the problem, and how can our universe achieve it?

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