We assume the world is physically real because we see it as such. For the same reason, when people meet actors from their favorite TV soap opera for the first time, they often treat them like their onscreen persona. Likewise, we assume that what we see is reality not because it has been proven, as it hasn’t, but because it is self-evident, as that is our bias:
“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
That we register the world as physical doesn’t prove it is so, but we accept:
“… the dogma that the concept of reality must be confined to objects in space and time…” (Zeh, 2004) p18
Yet science advances by questioning assumptions not sanctifying them. Quantum theory implies that behind what we see is quantum reality, of which Bohr said we must not speak, but since when was science about not asking questions?
And since quantum collapse occurs in an instant, entities are mostly between measurements:
“Little has been said about the character of the unmeasured state. Since most of reality most of the time dwells in this unmeasured condition …the lack of such a description leaves the majority of the universe … shrouded in mystery.” (Herbert, 1985) p194
If entities exist mostly as spreading quantum waves, by what logic are their brief moments of collapse considered real? Surely reality is what is there most of the time? And if quantum waves cause physical reality, isn’t saying that the unreal causes the real backwards logic? If one thing causes another, surely reality is the cause not the effect?
The current denial of quantum reality is doctrinal not logical, based on faith not facts. When atoms were first proposed, Mach denied they existed because they were unseen but today, we accept quarks that are never seen alone. Yet when quantum theory says physical reality is a set of possibilities, we cry “Enough!” and turn away. That the answer to life, the universe and everything is just a probability is a step too far. After two thousand years of scientific struggle, physics is ignoring its own conclusion that physical reality is a choice from unmeasurable quantum outcomes.