Reverse engineering is the grounded theory of computing, as it deduces computer causes based on observation. When we observe a screen, the program behind it is unseen, but we can still reverse engineer it, by deducing the processes that cause screen events, then testing against further interactions, until it predicts what the screen does. Reverse engineering physical events is the same, given they are generated by quantum processes. Quantum waves can’t be observed physically, but if unseen wi-fi waves can fill our screens with images, then unseen quantum waves can fill our world with physical events. Reverse engineering physics lets us understand how this could occur, and what it means for our world. The results so far suggest that quantum reality is:
1. A network. If our universe is generated by a network, it should be discrete not continuous.
2. That transmits waves in three dimensions. If only waves move on the network, only waves should also move in our universe,
3. That vibrate at right angles to their movement. If quantum waves vibrate outside space, our universe can’t be complete in itself.
4. Until they overload the network in a physical event. If quantum events generate physical events, the latter can’t be fundamental.
Materialism implies a universe of solid particles moving on fixed paths through a continuous empty space, not waves spreading on a network, so mathematical models that assume the latter challenge it:
1. Calculus. The calculus used throughout physics began as a thought experiment, that infinitesimals, in the limit, predict physical events. It worked brilliantly, but that space and time change in tiny steps contradicted the assumption that they are continuous, so it became just a mathematical tool that is used but not believed in. Calculus was rejected as a reality description because it denied a canon of materialism, but if space and time really do change in quantum pixels and cycles [Note 1], then it is a true description.
2. Sum over paths. Feynman’s sum over paths theory also began as a thought experiment, that quantum particles take every path to a destination then pick the best one. Again, it worked brilliantly, but that entities move as waves contradicted the assumption that they are particles, so it also became a mathematical tool that is used but not believed in. Feynman’s theory was rejected as a reality description because it denied a canon of materialism, but if quantum entities really do move as waves, then it is a true description.
3. Complex numbers. Complex number theory was another thought experiment, that electromagnetic waves like light rotate in an imaginary axis outside our space. Again, it worked brilliantly, but a plane outside space contradicted the assumption that our universe is complete, so it also became a mathematical tool that is used but not believed in. Complex number theory was rejected as a reality description because it denied a canon of materialism, but if there really is a dimension outside our space, then it is a true description.
4. Quantum mechanics. The theory of quantum mechanics was also a thought experiment, that unseeable quantum waves interact to cause physical events. Again, it worked brilliantly, but that quantum events cause physical events contradicted the assumption that the latter are fundamental, so again it became a mathematical tool that is used but not believed in. Quantum mechanics was rejected as a reality description because it denied a canon of materialism, but if quantum events really do cause physical events, then it is a true description.
All the above models, of calculus, Feynman’s sum over paths, complex numbers, and quantum mechanics, are used in physics because they work, but what they imply is ignored because we say they describe imaginary events. Yet if these models are good enough to use, why aren’t they good enough to believe? The answer seems to be that they contradict materialism, an ancient reality assumption that goes back to Aristotle:
1. Calculus can’t be true because if space and time are continuous, there is no limit to their divisibility.
2. Sum over paths can’t be true because if quantum entities are particles, they can’t travel all paths.
3. Complex numbers can’t be true because if our world is complete, there can’t be a dimension outside space.
4. Quantum mechanics can’t be true because if physical events are fundamental, they can’t be generated.
But what would we think of a scientist who uses global coordinates to navigate but still says the earth is flat? When facts oppose assumptions in science, aren’t the former supposed to win? If we follow the evidence, not our bias, then it isn’t the methods that work that are imaginary but materialism, that we live in a seamless universe of matter particles that is complete and self-existing. But if our universe isn’t as we imagined it, why don’t physicists consider the possibility that quantum waves exist? Why not think that the equations of physics are literally true.
The answer seems to be a fear that physics will degenerate into quantum mysticism, that like past God theories, explains everything but predicts nothing (Chopra, 1989), but reverse engineering doesn’t work that way.
For example, quantum computers aren’t God computers because the answer to how they work isn’t an all-powerful being but quantum waves that spread, entangle, collapse, and restart according to quantum laws. These waves act in physically impossible ways, but they are lawful not magical, as are quantum computers, so why not build on what works? This means using reverse engineering to develop a model of quantum waves that explains what materialism can’t, which is the obvious fact that quantum theory works.
Note 1. For any calculus involving time, replace dt by dp, a small number of processing cycles. Now dp can indeed tend to zero because there cannot be less than one processing cycle.