Is our universe made of particles as a house is made of bricks, but by accident not design? If so, matter could be based on fundamental particles, that aren’t made of other particles. Particles, like chess pieces, just sit there until moved rather than act on their own, but if you place ants on a chess board, they immediately start crawling about of their own accord.
Is our universe then based on particles that move when pushed, or entities that move themselves? It seems to be the latter, as light always moves, as do electrons, and neutrinos that whizz about everywhere unseen. Photons, electrons, and neutrinos, all said to be fundamental, are active entities not passive particles.
Particles also go where they are put, but where a photon hits a screen isn’t determined by the forces acting on it. It decides where it strikes from the possibilities, and calling this random doesn’t disguise the fact that the photon itself causes this, not the forces acting upon it. Electrons, neutrinos, and quarks are the same, so our universe is based on active entities, not passive particles.
How then can a universe be built from bricks that constantly move about by themselves and decide where they are put? The alternative is that it wasn’t built but evolved by its own nature. If our universe of stars and galaxies began as one photon that became many, it grew like a seed that starts small. What then defined the nature of that seed?