The mechanics of reality

Exposition of the matrix: A new model for the deep nature of time and reality.

- Rob Solomon

The Weakness of Philosophical and Scientific Materialism

In this paper, philosophical and scientific materialism, being the almost universally accepted view that nothing exists, or can exist, beyond what is physically measurable—such as matter, space, time, and the physical energies such as electricity, is abbreviated to simply materialism.

Since the late nineteenth century, science itself has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the materialist world view. For most people, conditioned from childhood to the idea that concrete, material, physical reality is all there is, and that cause and effect are linearly related, as intuition and commonsense imply, what follows will appear astonishing, and even beyond belief. However, these ideas are no more strange than the many and varied notions about parallel universes, a topic on which respected scientists publish papers.

By monitoring and analysing physical situations, experiments, or events, models are formed. These attempt to create a logical or mathematical behavioural equivalent—in order to describe, simulate, and predict.

Examples include the Bohr model of the atom, and the computer models used in finance, war games, weather forecasting, and global warming.

Different models can predict the same outcomes from situations and experiments. In this case, in line with the wisdom of Occam's Razor, the simplest one with the fewest assumptions is probably the closest to the truth.

The scientific method of acquiring knowledge and determining truth, adopted by mainstream science, assumes that reality is entirely objective. Useful under ordinary circumstances, it is a tool that cannot cope with the fact that a conscious observer always impacts the world being observed.