Modern science began when Aristotle concluded that for all practical purposes, physical events have physical causes, and now it argues that matter, energy, space, and time is all there is. This belief in physical reality assumes it is conserved, continuous, complete, and fundamental. But lately cracks have appeared in these foundations that require theoretical patches, lest they collapse:
1. Conserved. If physical reality is all there is, it must be conserved in total. Parts of it can transform, as water turns into vapor, but the total must be in an eternal steady state. Unfortunately, big bang theory cracked this pillar last century, as what suddenly began isn’t eternal. One patch used to cover this fault is the speculation that a big crunch will follow the big bang, in an ongoing oscillation that is in effect a steady state.
2. Continuous. If physical reality is all there is, space and time must be continuous, without gaps. If time had gaps, matter wouldn’t exist continuously and so couldn’t be all that exists. If space had gaps, something beyond space would have to cause that. Unfortunately, assuming continuity in field theories creates infinities, and what is infinite is impossible. The patch used to cover up this crack was a mathematical method called renormalization, that Feynman called a “dippy process”. Essentially, it just defines the problem away.
3. Complete. If physical reality is all there is, everything must have a physical cause, but events like atomic decay have no physical cause. No physical history can explain when a radioactive atom emits a photon. Quantum theory adds that quantum collapse is random, so every physical event involves randomness. The patch in this case was the ludicrous idea that every random choice creates an entire new universe, to give a multiverse that has no randomness.
4. Fundamental. If physical reality is all there is, fundamental matter particles should exist without an observer, but quantum theory says that waves only become particles when observed, and the evidence agrees. The patch for this crack is the standard model of physics where imaginary particles explain observed effects like gravity. Physics today talks about particles but uses equations based on waves.
Figure 1.7 shows the four pillars of physical realism, their cracks, and the resulting patches. This paradigm survives by being established not by being well-founded, for if physical reality is always:
1. Conserved, then it must be eternal,
2. Continuous, then it must be all-pervading,
3. Complete, then it must be all-powerful, and
4. Fundamental, then it must self-existing.
That physical reality is conserved, continuous, complete, and fundamental therefore equates to saying that it is eternal, all-pervading, all-powerful, and self-existing, all properties once attributed to God. Physical realism essentially dresses up divine properties in scientific terms and applies them to physical reality, so it is more of an ideology than a theory of science.
The tradition of materialism is routinely defended rather than questioned but science can’t prove its assumptions about physical reality any more than religion could prove its beliefs about God. Instead of thinking a book has all the answers, it is now thought that physical reality does. But if physical reality is eternal, why did it begin? If it is all-pervading, why are there Planck limits? If it is all-powerful, what explains random events? If it is self-existing, why do quantum theory and relativity require an observer?
To accept physical realism today one must believe that matter began itself, that infinities can be defined away, that photons can spawn new universes, and that imaginary particles can cause real effects. To say that physical realism has shaky foundations is an understatement, but what is the alternative?
Science can’t challenge physical realism until an alternative is proposed, and that is quantum realism. It proposes that physical reality is virtual, and so impermanent, digital, contained, and dependent. A universe that began is impermanent not eternal. A universe of pixels and cycles is digital not all-pervading. A universe that is generated is contained not all-powerful. A universe that needs an observer is dependent not self-existing. To attribute divine properties to a virtual reality that is impermanent, digital, contained and dependent is foolish, and so quantum realism is proposed to replace it.