particles and connections (General)

by dhw, Monday, February 06, 2017, 16:34 (2846 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: Many thanks for this response, which is reassuring for me as a layman. My disagreement with Ruth Kastner, which applies to several of the quantum theorists whose articles you have quoted, was her and their suggestion that quantum reality is more “real” than the reality we think we know.... Anyone who doubts the reality of the reality we perceive subjectively, regardless of the weird behaviour of “virtual” particles, should try stepping in front of a bus.

DAVID: Ruth Kastner was pointing out that reality is 'more' than we know subjectively. I think that is something we should accept. Particles pop in and out of our reality. They come from a place we do not appreciate with our senses. But it must exist! Our reality is real, but there is more to it. Total reality as we sense it is not complete reality.

You don’t have to be a quantum physicist or a philosopher to be aware that the reality we know subjectively is not complete. All our discussions revolve around “realities” we do not know, e.g. the answers to our questions about the origin of life, evolution and consciousness, what if anything preceded the Big Bang (if it happened) etc. But over and over again you have posted articles which suggest that the reality we think we know is in some way illusory, and that is what I complain about.

dhw: However, I am now applying a similar approach to BBella’s concept of interconnectedness. It creates a wonderful mystique, but what does it actually mean? WHAT is connected, and in what way? ....I can understand perfectly well that a believer will feel “connected” to such a being. But I can’t even begin to feel that I myself or even a possible God is “connected” to a pebble on a beach. And so I wonder what is the nature and even the significance of this interconnectedness?

DAVID: The connectedness is at a physical level but may also be at a consciousness level, since late-choice experiments have to be explained. It seems likely that the entire physical universe is interconnected through quantum mechanics, at a quantum level we cannot appreciate. The significance is that the universe is based entirely on quantum mechanics beyond our current understanding.

The universe is unquestionably based on something that is beyond our current understanding. My musings were rather more personal, though, as I was really wondering why interconnectedness was such an important factor in BBella’s concept of the ALL THAT IS. In relation to your own beliefs, which require God to be within and without the world as we know it, there is a similar problem. Is God within the pebble on the beach? If so, what does that mean? Needless to say, this is only the tip of the philosophical iceberg.