If light regularly behaves in physically impossible ways, why is materialism still accepted? Science seems new, but it began thousands of years with Aristotle’s conclusion that reality consists of:
“… a multitude of single things (substances), each of them characterized by intrinsic properties …” (Audretsch, 2004, p274).
This view checks our boxes, as it is simple, intuitive, and fruitful. It is simple because particles of the matter we touch cause everything. It is intuitive because even a ray of light strikes a screen at a particular point. And it was fruitful because science grew by studying matter rather than scriptures.
But one box it didn’t check is validity as in Young’s experiment, one photon goes through two slits to interfere with itself, which a particle can’t. Time and again, light does what it shouldn’t, like detect an object without touching it, or find the best path to any destination. Light seems to ignore the predictions of materialism.
Then along came quantum theory, with all the answers based on quantum waves not particles. It was perfect, but its waves weren’t physical, so it contradicted materialism. It said that photon waves spread down every path, then collapse to a point when observed in a way that physical causes can’t predict. Essentially, quantum theory was a nightmare for a science based on materialism.
This section reviews how physics responded, by trying to deny randomness and redefine science, and then suggests an alternative approach, given that materialism isn’t working.
3.9.1. A Fairy Tale for Physicists
3.9.2. Is Quantum Theory Science?
3.9.3. The Measurement Problem
3.9.4. Quantum Realism
3.9.5. The Unmeasured Reality
3.9.6. The Smoky Dragon