The key study that exposed the foundations of physics is Bell’s experiment. It tested the following axioms of current physics (D’Espagnat, 1979):
1. Reality. That “there is some physical reality whose existence is independent of human observers.” (D’Espagnat, 1979), p158.
2. Locality. That no influence of any kind can travel faster than the speed of light.
3. Induction. That logical induction is a valid mode of reasoning.
The result showed that one or more of these assumptions must be wrong. If physical reality and induction are true, then locality must be wrong. If locality and induction are true, there isn’t a real physical world out there. If physical reality and locality are true, then logical induction must be false. To this day, physics has not resolved this issue:
“According to quantum theory, quantum correlations violating Bell’s inequalities merely happen, somehow from outside space-time, in the sense that there is no story in space-time that can describe their occurrence:” (Salart et al., 2008), p1.
If Bell’s experiment breaks the axioms of physics, its time for new ones. Let us therefore change the first two axioms to a quantum ground to exist, as follows:
1. Reality axiom: Remove the word “physical” so it becomes:
That there is a reality whose existence is independent of human observers
This then allows quantum reality to exist independent of human observers.
2. Locality axiom: Limit it to physical transfers so it becomes:
That no physical transfers of any kind can propagate faster than the speed of light.
This then allows changes that aren’t physical transfers to occur faster than light.
As a result, reality and locality axioms still apply but the first refers to quantum reality, and the second is limited to physical transfers. For example, consider the following statement:
“If one adopts a realistic view of science, then one holds that there is a true and unique structure to the physical universe which scientists discover rather than invent.” (Barrow, 2007), p124.
This is the old axiom that only the physical universe is real, which Bell’s experiment proves might be false. To replace this with the new axiom, one need only remove the word “physical”:
“If one adopts a realistic view of science, then one holds that there is a true and unique structure to the universe which scientists discover rather than invent.”
This simple change lets reality still exist but now Bell’s results don’t contradict it, so science remains intact. There is still a true and unique structure to the universe that scientists discover rather than invent, but it isn’t the world we see. Science can still study a real universe if physical laws follow from the laws of quantum theory, as the evidence suggests they do. This new axiom doesn’t destroy science, it preserves it, based on quantum mechanics and the facts of physics.
The second new axiom does the same. If locality applies only to physical transfers, then Bell’s results no longer contradict it, as quantum collapse is a server-client change not a physical transfer. Einstein’s law, that no effect is faster than light, apples to physical effects but not to quantum ones.
This then is quantum realism, that quantum reality exists, just as quantum theory describes it. The paradoxes that bedevil physics now disappear, as they should, so our world is caused by reality, not unreality. There is no particle-wave duality, just quantum waves. These waves take every path then pick one on arrival, so delayed choice experiments don’t reverse time. A physical event is a primal choice, not an inevitable mechanic, so randomness is real. Some see this as giving up on physics, but the current stagnation is no better. Materialism is the mother of modern physics, but every child leaves home one day, so it’s only a matter of time before it explores the unmeasured reality.