Hi Rob! Thanks for this piece. It’s always good to revisit old classical debates/theories. I took a shot, this year, at settling this debate. The whole question comes back to the one about the “prime creator” or why we have something rather than nothing. I have agreed, in my articles, with the current accepted “model”: that “nothingness” is unstable and generates quantum foam or quantum fluctuations, which are at the “root” of all things. The more delicate question is how you get from chaotic fluctuations to our reality…
The “key” I have found to understand the Universe is to leverage the principles of perfect symmetry and transcendence. The principle of perfect symmetry is pretty straightforward: for everything that exists, it’s opposite must exist. Mathematically, it translates to this: if +1 exists, -1 exists. And of course, this is directly related to the question: how can you have something out of nothing? Well, if whatever you create is perfectly symmetrical and thus, if superimposed, amounts to nothing, then you can “fool around” with something. Transcendence refers to “key” moments in time when two perfectly symmetrical “realities” threaten to superimpose and revert back to nothingness. In order to “escape” such a fate, there is a process which I call “transcendence”, where a more complex reality is created on “top” of an existing level of reality. This is quite simple to understand: sub-atomic arranging themselves into atoms, atoms arranging themselves into molecules, molecules arranging themselves into living cells, living cells arranging themselves into… us… And at each “level”, the possibilities grow exponentially, constantly “pushing” back the moment where +1 and -1 come together and revert back to being 0 or nothing. Of course, fundamentally speaking, all of the steps I’m talking about here are just symbols for something that is formless. You don’t “need” to create atoms, you just need to increase the complexity of the information contained in one of these quantum fluctuations… It’s like adding a new vibration to a simple sine wave. You can add an infinite number of “extra” information to a vibration, and that information will simply be represented in a certain form by our brain.
To cut the story short, because time is precious to all, it is more and more recognized that the reality we perceive is a collective hallucination. See the work of neurologist Anil Seth: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xjbn3/consciousness-is-just-a-bunch-of-hallucinations-we-collectively-agree-on
However, it doesn’t explain WHY we hallucinate what we do.
My model of the Universe is this one:
Out of infinite nothingness/void, there will always be ONE place where space/time flows infinitely faster than all other places, out of sheer randomness. What this looks like, is akin to watching a baby grow in the womb: the condensed history of 2 billion years of evolution in 9 months. Einstein was correct about relativity, but he failed to push the concept to it’s limits. Our current experience of linear time is simply relative to other “places” in the Universe where time flowed infinitely fast. You could define reality as being a holographic projection of pre-existing concepts within the center of each black hole (the heart of a black hole is where time flowed infinitely fast, and where all the existent “rules” of this simulated computer programme we live in materialized instantly, simply due to the probability that would happen within infinite void/nothingness). It is like a “speed run” in a video game, or rather, an infinitely fast speed run where before even starting the game, you are at the end. Our reality is like one possible way to “finish” this Universal game we are collectively playing, here on Earth. This also clarifies what “God” is. God can be seen as the “ultimate future” which materialized instantly, and from there on out, exerts a form of force of attraction on all other possible “stories” leading back to it. For instance, from our perceived reality, it doesn’t look like we are going to be swallowed any time soon by the black hole at the center of our galaxy. However, I would say we have never not been swallowed by it, or rather, we are always being swallowed by it. Simply because of time moving forward, we are bound to materialize the “next” idea/concept/level of this giant “simulated” reality. Why else would hydrogen atoms bother to fuse together to form a star and forge all other atomic elements? Why else would these atomic elements combine to form complex molecules? Why else would molecules organise into proteins and amino acids? Why else would those arrange themselves into forming the first living cell? Why else would those living cells form the basis for plants and animals? Why else would humans (self-conscious beings) emerge? It all very much resembles various “logic levels” or levels inside a video game, or Russian dolls nested one inside the other.
In conclusion, here is my take on the law which rules the Universe: the only force that exists in the Universe is the force that the future exerts on the past.
From what I have said before, you will understand that all else is just a consequence, a by-product of this reality. All observed laws of physics, quantum entanglement, etc… All serve just one purpose: to attract this “timeline” or story towards a future where the “next” level/logic layer will materialize no matter what.
Sorry for being so long winded, hopefully you have found this interesting… :-)
Here are my own articles if you’re interested:
