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Did physicists get the idea of “fundamental” wrong? - C C - Jun 21, 2023

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/physicists-fundamental-wrong/

KEY POINTS: Our quest for the most fundamental thing in the Universe has led us to the indivisible elementary quanta of nature that compose everything we know and directly interact with. Yet this bottom-up approach ignores two very important aspects of reality that possess enormous importance: boundary conditions and top-down conditions that govern the cosmos. In our quest for the fundamental components of reality, we only ever look at the smallest scales. Yet these larger-scale aspects to reality might be just as important... (MORE - details)


RE: Did physicists get the idea of “fundamental” wrong? - Magical Realist - Jun 21, 2023

The inadequacy of reductionism can be seen in a hypothetical case of breaking down a stew to its molecular components. Would it really explain the overall qualities and flavors and colors and textures of the dish? No. All the pertinent data about the stew comes from an examination of its recipe and all the emergent properties that arise from it in its being cooked. Nothing in the molecules can account for anything we experience in the stew. The essence of the stew abides in its wholeness as a complex and self-interactive mixture of properties and qualia . Should we expect anything less from our amazingly complicated and chaotic and multifarious reality that surrounds and contains us? What is the recipe for reality? God only knows.. Tongue