Science seems new but it began thousands of years ago, when Aristotle concluded that our reality consists of:
“… a multitude of single things (substances), each of them characterized by intrinsic properties …” (Audretsch, 2004, p274).
This view checks our boxes because it is simple, intuitive, and fruitful. It is simple because it allows particles of the matter we know to cause everything. It is intuitive because it allows a ray of light to strike a screen at one point. And it was fruitful because the study of matter allowed science to grow.
Materialism has served science well as a world view, but when reality bites, it has no answer. The harsh truth of modern physics is that particles can’t explain the facts observed, as light illustrates. In Young’s experiment, one particle can’t go through two slits to interfere with itself, but a photon can. A particle can’t detect an object without touching it, but light can. A particle can’t find the fastest path to any destination, but light can. A particle can’t alter its past path when the target changes but light can. Particles can’t interact faster than light, but entangled photons can. Reality won’t defer to us because it never backs down so the question is, how many reality bites can the myth of matter sustain?
Then along came quantum theory with all the answers based on waves not particles. It was perfect but for one fact – it contradicted materialism. It described the physically impossible, so physics disowned it, calling it unreal, but nature accepted it, because it worked. Given a choice, between the evidence and what we believe, which one will prevail?
3.9.1. A Fairy Tale for Physicists
3.9.2. Is Quantum Theory Science?
3.9.3. The Measurement Problem
3.9.4. Beyond Materialism
3.9.5. The Unmeasured Reality
3.9.6. Plato’s Cave