The Many Paths to the TOE

[austintorn@aol.com]

The Many Paths to the Theory of Everything


We are curious humans residing in the universe in the middle of nowhere and wish to know how everything works and what is its basis in a way that leaves no mystery or no room for mystery.

What are we? We seem to be organisms that are both conscious and animated somehow through an assembly from matter via DNA encrypted information.

Something does exist. Our conscious experience tells us that our consciousness exists, that our body seems to exist, and that objects seem to exist. Consciousness is our only portal to observe what exists.

We feel that the objects observed via our consciousness, whether real, interpreted, or projected, must come from some ultimate basis of reality. Could there be more than one ultimate basis of reality? I suppose, unless simplicity is constrained to be just one thing.

—> Something exists.


We wish to explain this ultimate reality and understand it completely, along with any the stages between it and the objects that we observe. We wish to know not only how the universe came to be and what it’s made of, but why, where from, and how it came to be until we know everything all the way down and all the way up.

That which is all the way down may be a very simple thing, like an extremely small vibrating superstring or a sea of energy and so may not be that interesting in and of itself, but we still wish to know what it is. Why do these things seem to be so darn small as to be almost out of reach? Well, that might be the only way that everything can be built from it. If it were larger then it would perhaps be unwieldy and it might be difficult for it to consist of only itself.

—> The ultimate basis of reality will be on a miniscule scale.


The higher composites that come from the basis of ultimate reality take on a life of their own as collectives, such as water coming from hydrogen and oxygen, life from DNA encoding, or bonding hormones “pheromoaning” into love—and seem much more interesting at that level, but we still wish to know what is the ultimate basis of reality.

—> Ultimate Reality is simple and not necessarily interesting; composites formed from it and further composites formed from that and so forth are complex and interesting.


So, what are the possible paths to the Theory of Everything?

(I may, upon reaching an impasse on some paths, have to go into more detail on the paths that are more open to us.)

Did the ultimate basis of everything come from nothing? This is impossible, for by definition, no-thing can come from nothing, and, furthermore, the ultimate basis would no longer be the ultimate and the “nothing” wouldn’t have really been a nothing, but more like a sea of quantum foam. So, since there could have been no creation out of nothing, the ultimate basis must have been around forever. If there is truly no such thing as time, it would be said instead that the basis IS, rather than IS NOT or that it exists rather than it does not. By definition, there can be derivation of that which existed forever, but we can still get satisfaction by finding out how it forms everything that comes of it.

—> The ultimate basis of everything existed forever.


The above implies that a total state of nothing is impossible, for nothing would ever have come of it—thus we are spared somewhat from wondering about the horrendous question of why there is something rather than nothing and also how the ultimate basis could have always been around. Now we can concentrate on what the ultimate basis is and how it formed everything.

—> A state of nothingness is impossible.


The ultimate basis of reality is made only of itself and cannot be separated into pieces, for then those would be the basis. Nor can it be created.

—> The ultimate basis of reality is indestructible.
—> The amount of whatever is the ultimate basis of reality cannot be increased or decreased—whatever of it exists is all that ever existed and all that will ever exist.


Is consciousness the only thing that exists? Who knows, but, if so, then all objects that we observe are made from it and don’t really exist in themselves, but are projected by consciousness, so then what is the ultimate basis, if any, behind consciousness? If any, then how does it work? We wouldn’t know, but we can work on the next best thing, that is, what if consciousness itself is the ultimate basis. Then we would be done, but not enough is known about consciousness to say right now.

We don’t even know what consciousness is, but it seems that it would need a mechanism even if it projected everything—and thus not be fundamental, plus it seems to be a subject that observes objects—so how could it perform both functions? Not to mention that it only appears in conjunction with a real brain—for what sense would there be in consciousness projecting an illusion of a brain and the universe and all of the intricate interactions therein?

Robert Lanza suggests that quantum superposition occurs even at the macro level, and that reality totally disappears when we are not looking, that is, not churning away or proceeding in any way, but resumes as such we we look again, somewhat like a DVD skipping ahead. Is this determinism’s recorded script or does the DVD have infinite alternative tracks to switch to? There is also the matter of what is the DVD. For now, this is all speculation and we can go no further.

—> Let’s assume that organisms, with brains and bodies, are real, as well as consciousness, in order to avoid “silliness” or having consciousness become too complex to be the simplicity of ultimate reality.


We have concluded that consciousness needs a brain nearby, or that it actually comes from the brain, or that it is part of the brain—it could be a higher part of the brain that perceives the rest of the brain, a sixth sense. It still might be that consciousness is still very special in that it is the only thing that allows observation of objects. But, no matter, for either they are one and the same or must operate in tandem.

—> Consciousness is associated with the brain.


Can consciousness and the brain or both, if they are the same, produce local reality by projecting what we observe? Well, it already does in some cases such as night dreams, schizophrenic visions, and hallucinations, which is really quite astounding when you think about it—a perfect virtual reality that tests absolutely real, but could it go so far as projecting our normal agreed-on reality to all, albeit the exact same reality to all of us as if the projected reality really were real?

It still doesn’t make sense, however, for if the organism is real and made of matter, then why couldn’t everything else be real and made of matter as well? I can only suppose that it might be more efficient somehow for nature, but I have to vote against it since there could be many organisms of matter throughout the universe and I don’t think matter is in that short of supply.

—> Let’s assume that the consciousness/brain combo does not just make up perceived reality by projecting it and that perceived objects are really out there in some way.


If objects are really out there in some way, are they really really right there, just as they are, or are they really real somewhere else, again perhaps due to nature’s efficiency, and just appear to be here—and continue to be as practically useful as if they were in every way?


Suppose first that they’re really out there. Do we observe them directly? No, for the brain translates them to fabricate a more useful reality for us. Sound waves that we are sensitive to become sound, light waves that we are sensitive to become colored images of vision, molecule shapes that our noses have receptors for become smells, substances that get to our bitter, sweet, sour, and salt tongue areas produce taste according to their varying degrees, and matter that touches our nerves causes the feeling of touch. Sure, the brain invents our reality, but it is a way that is useful to us and we have no reason to suppose that any real trickery is going on.


(At this point in the essay, we’re still investigating objects that are really out there.)

Is matter solid or just some swirling waves? It doesn’t matter, for it is still there and we can try to probe it. We have so far gotten down to electrons, quarks, and photons and such. What do they consist of? Some say standing waves; some say they come from vibrations of superstrings. Do we care if they pop in and out of our existence, as subatomic particles seem to do, whether from possibilities of potentiality or from the implicate order? We sure do, for although quarks and/or superstrings exist for us and are made of matter, the place that they pop in and out of would then be more fundamental than they are. Perhaps all they can do, by some limitation, is pop in and out. Fortunately, many scientific TOE forums take care of further analysis from here.

—> If objects are really out there in some way, then there must be be some ultimate basis of them, which is made only of itself, out of which all higher composite entities are formed. What is it? Research continues.

(At this point in the essay, we’re investigating objects that are not at all out there right there.)

Suppose that objects are not really out there, but are real somewhere else, being projected there for efficiency. Well, we draw many of the same conclusions as for when objects are really out there, that is, that there is an ultimate basis, but one that is somewhat harder to get at, and that we are perhaps probing illusions and wasting our time to some degree. If so, we still have to probe the illusion to see if it is one or not, but remember that what is behind the illusion is what is ultimately real.

Could it be that only our third dimension is projected as an illusion? The entropy of a black hole seems to depend only on the surface area of the event horizon of the black hole, not on its volume. So why does our third dimension play no role? Because if everything seen comes from the interference patterns of a 3D hologram, it would be projected from a 2D surface somewhere. Everything is connected to everything, in a hologram, the same as is indicated by quantum entanglement. Does this facilitate our perception of our local reality? Is this everything interpenetrating everything a form of rudimentary perception in and of itself? Are our abilities to have virtual realities in night dreams telling us something profound about how reality works or are night dreams just a isolated product of our imaginations and memories to give us some practice in living and/or to sort out the day’s events?

—> If the 3rd dimension is projected, as in a hologram, then life still goes on as if it weren't, but we do need to find the projection room.


Are all of our dimensions projected? I suppose this would be like the probabilities of possibilities blooming into reality. Even possibilities like those of superposition in the quantum world would still be a the real ultimate basis of reality but it’s rather hard to look behind the veil at the quantum wave function of the ultimate basis of reality.


So, in conclusion, which I know has come all to soon, knowing only what we can know at this point, the ultimate basis of reality operates at the smallest scale possible; it is indestructible and is/was around forever; it is made only of itself; it had to be like it is—the simplest. Some or all of our local reality is fabricated in a useful way from what is really out there. If there is such as thing as superimposed probabilities of possibilities, then that is the ultimate basis of reality, albeit not what we’re used to as real. All of the complex wonders of the universe, as well as the universe’s birth itself, if any, came of the ultimate basis of reality. It is the ultimate free lunch.


So long for now—I’m out to lunch!


(See http://www.lulu.com/austintorn for artwork of reality)

[MJA]

There is only one single path to truth attainable from infinite perceptions uniting us all. The path is found by the process of enlightenment which is simply the removal of any questions or doubt. Or by simply removing the darkness that obscures the single light of truth. Once the mind is clear the truth is found. To find the direction, turn around and go the other way. Simplify is the way.

MJA

"If you would be a real seaker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible all things". Descartes

"There is little doubt that today's world is desperately in need of a few with clear vision who can see through the complexity and find the deeper order amid the caos". Carter Phipps

[mkirkpatrick]

There are as many paths to the toe,as there are hairs on your head,except of course
if you are bald!Then we need to look again!


regards michael.