SAND 2010 What Exists

7/30/2019 SAND 2010 What Exists

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What Exists?

The nature of existence


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Dictionary definition

(Merriam-Webster) To exist: To have real being whether material

or spiritual.

Being: The quality or state of having existence.

Obviously, to understand existence we must

look elsewhere!


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The assumption of objective reality in

physics

Objective reality and its laws exist and are

independent of the mind.

The aim of physics is to discover the laws of

objective reality.

The degree of correspondence of theory with

the laws of objective reality can be

determined by objective observations and

measurements.


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Physics depends on observation,

communication, verification andagreement

Without communication, verification andagreement, there is no physics.

Thus, agreement within a physics

community is necessary for physics to

exist.


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From classical to quantum

Until 1899, physicists widely agreed that physicalobjects were separate from each other.

In 1899, crucial experiments disproved the

validity of classical physics.

In 1900 physicists began to develop quantum

mechanics, with major developments in the

1920s.

Quantum mechanics brought into question the

concept of physical objects that were separate

from each other.


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If not separate objects, what does

quantum mechanics describe?

Physicists agree that quantum mechanics correctly

predicts the probability that an observation will

yield a specific result if many measurements are

made on many identical systems (e.g., theprobability that a position measurement will yield

a specific position). This is called the statistical

interpretation.

The statistical interpretation predicts what one

might observe in many measurements

but it does not describe what actually exists.


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The problem of interpretation

Currently, there is no agreement on anontological interpretation of quantum

theory, i.e., an interpretation in terms of

objective truth describing what isobjectively real.

Examples of different proposed

ontological interpretations: Copenhagen;hidden variables; many worlds; many-

minds; relational; modal; transactional.


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What will happen if physicists

cannot agree on an ontologicalinterpretation?

They will have to consider the possibilitythat there is no objective reality.

If so, they will naturally be led to a

subjective interpretation.


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There is also the problem of space

and time Quantum theory assumes the existence of

absolute space and time.

However, in general relativity (gravity theory),

space and time are not absolute but dependon each other.

Currently, nobody knows how to reconcile

these two theories.

In order to reconcile them, the concepts of

objective space and time might have to be

abandoned.


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If the concepts of objective space and

time are abandoned.

the concept of an objective reality will also have

to be abandoned

and physicists will be led to the view that

phenomena occur only in the mind.

Just as physicists now are driven to know and

understand the universal laws of objective

reality they will then be driven to know and

understand the universal laws of mind.


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But, if there never has been an

objective reality

then, physics always has been the study of

the mind!

A few working physicists already recognize this(e.g., Richard Conn Henry of Johns Hopkins

University)

but the present generation of physicists willhave to die out before this new paradigm is

widely accepted.


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Universal mindvs. individual mind

Universal mind is analogous to objective

reality.

Individual mind is analogous to the individual

physicist.

Just as the laws of objective reality are those

that physicists agree exists, the laws of

universal mind are those that individual minds

agree exists.

There is nothing new here--except that

separate objects have disappeared!


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Consequently.

What we normally consider to be objects,

including space-time, are nothing but

appearances in mind.

Since the body is nothing but an appearance in

mind, mind is not confined to a body. Since, space-time is an appearance in mind, mind

is not located or confined in space-time. Thus,

minds are not separate. Even though minds are not separate, they are

different because they consist of different

appearances.


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Communication and agreement

Since minds are not separate in space-time,

appearances in different minds may be

correlated with each other.

When appearances in specific minds are

correlated, it is called communication

between minds.

When appearances in all minds are correlated,

it is called universal mind.

Correlations and communication are not

objective because there is no space-time.

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SAND 2010 What Exists