Materialism assumes everything is made of matter, so it leads to conclusions like:
“Observers have to be made of matter…Our description of nature is thus severely biased: we describe it from the standpoint of matter.” (Schiller, 2009), p834.
We see matter all around us, and so conclude the observer is matter also, although nothing in physics suggests that matter experiences physical events. Physics then goes on to describe everything in terms of matter, even space and time, which are probably human constructs, leading to:
“… the dogma that the concept of reality must be confined to objects in space and time…” (Zeh, 2004), p18.
This dogma, of materialism, was built into the foundations of physics, but quantum theory denies it based on the Bell test, which challenges 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 propagate faster than the speed of light.
3. Induction. That logical induction is a valid mode of reasoning.
These axioms seem self-evident, but the Bell results show that one or more of them are wrong. If physical reality and induction are true, then locality must be wrong. If locality and induction are true, then reality isn’t physical. If physical reality and locality are true, then induction must be false. To this day, physics can’t explain the Bell experiments, which are based on quantum theory:
“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.
The foundations of physics have been found faulty, and there has been no rebuttal, so the answer must lie beyond materialism. If the world that quantum theory describes is real, then the first axiom must be changed by removing the word “physical”, so it becomes:
1. Reality: That there is a reality whose existence is independent of human observers.
This change lets quantum reality exist independent of human observers, so there is still a real world around us, but it is beyond what we see. 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.
To adapt this statement to the new axiom, we just remove the word physical, so it becomes: 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, based on quantum theory, lets reality exist in a way that isn’t challenged by Bell’s result. The universe still has a true and unique structure that scientists can discover rather than invent, but it is quantum not physical. The only requirement is that all physical laws follow from quantum laws, which the evidence suggests is true.
The second axiom must also be changed, but now by adding the world physical, so it becomes.
2. Locality: That no physical influence of any kind can propagate faster than the speed of light.
If locality applies only to physical influences, then Bell’s result no longer contradicts it, as quantum collapse isn’t a physical influence. Einstein’s law, that no influence is faster than light, apples to physical effects but if quantum collapse is a server-client effect, it can occur faster than light.
These simple changes to the reality and locality axioms mean the foundations of physics are no longer challenged by experiment. They also leave the axiom of logical induction intact, and with it, the methods of science. A physics founded on quantum theory doesn’t contradict its predictions.
This then is quantum realism, that quantum reality exists just as quantum theory describes it. It avoids the quantum paradox because quantum causes are now real. There is then no particle-wave duality, only quantum waves that take every path then pick one on arrival, so delayed choice experiments no longer imply reverse causality. Physical events are primal choices not physical effects, so randomness is real. Going beyond materialism reveals a universe based on choices not mechanics.
Changing its foundations isn’t the end of physics, but stagnation is. The benefit is that the equations physicists use every day are real, not fantasy. Materialism was the mother of physics, but every child has to leave home one day, to explore the unknown universe.