A philosophical worldview or belief system grounded on the 20th century discovery that Information, rather than Matter, is the fundamental substance of everything in the universe. It is intended to be the 21st century successor to the ancient worldviews of Materialism and Idealism. An Update from Bronze Age to Information Age. It's also a Theory – of – Everything that covers, not just matter & energy, but also Life & Mind & Love.
Post 154.April 30, 2026
Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution
The Search for what lies beyond the quantum
This is the title of a book, written by theoretical physicist Lee Smolin. Who, for most of his professional life, has been searching for a commonsense “Realist” understanding of subatomic physics, to replace the “Anti-Realist”¹ (idealistic) version of the current-standard Copenhagen Interpretation. This is perhaps the most recent (2018) instance of the century-long search for a realistic & deterministic theory to replace the Copenhagen model that has dominated the science of the 20th and 21st centuries. Smolin argues that the century-old theory of Quantum Physics is still incomplete². Realist Einstein even proposed unspecified “hidden variables” that could fill in the gaps. What those unknown factors are is still unknown.
Smolin focuses most of his background history on David Bohm's Pilot Wave Theory³. In that case, a universal matterless mathematical field of Potential is primary (fundamental , essential), and physical Particles are secondary (although Realistic). The Pilot Wave is imagined as a non-local (Holistic) field of potential that is everywhere, and the local Particles are “excitations” (peaks) that move through the field, like a sailing ship on the ocean, pushed around by wind & water. Waves, peaks & valleys, are mathematized as positive & negative (+/-). Unfortunately, due to the obscurity of the variables, his theory turned out to be just as uncertain & probabilistic as the standard interpretation of how the unseen subatomic world works.
The New (probabilistic) Physics of the 20th century has supplanted the Old (deterministic) Physics of Newton for cutting edge science applications. Yet Smolin says, “new mathematics is usually not enough to invent a new physics'. Then concludes that, “This is where a knowledge of philosophy can be the essential element”. Ironically, there are no “essences” in physical Science other than physical properties. But the statistical basis of quantum physics deals with arcane mathematical concepts that are immaterial & mysterious, yet functional, like Fractals and Phase Transitions.
So, he proposes some new Principles to govern the investigation : a Principle of causal completeness. “It is never the case that the chain of causes traces back to some thing outside of the universe”. But that is exactly where the Big Bang theory led, traced from now back to nowhen/nowhere. The BB theory didn’t start from zero, hence not complete. So, the Hard Question of Causation asks, where did the Energy and Laws for the Bang come from? This refers, not to any physical Principle, but to an outside (pre-bang) source of power & order.
Smolin's Universal (spacetime) Causation may be one specific instance of a timeless & spaceless Principle of Innovation. For example, my own label for that hypothetical Evolution-Propelling Power is EnFormAction⁴. But Aristotle’s eternal Unmoved Mover, the First Cause, is something even more general : all possible instances of Causation in a state of infinite Potential.
Smolin is looking forward to the day when Science again has the certainty of Isaac Newton’s 17th century world, as pre-determined and directed by the unbreakable laws of the Creator. Ironically, the mathematical laws of Probability were discovered by Newton’s contemporary, Blaise Pascal, in his analysis of gambling games. But that doesn’t mean our world is just a crap-shoot, because there is reliable order even in games of Chance. Gamblers call it “Luck”.
— End of Post 154 —
1. Anti-Realism : the philosophical position that reality is not independ-ent of our minds, percept-ions, or conceptual schemes, denying that a mind-independent world exists as realism claims. It argues that truth is constructed by human thought, social practices, or observation rather than discovered. Common forms include subjective idealism, moral anti-realism, and scientific antirealism. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=anti-realism
2. Incomplete Physics : Quantum physics is widely considered incomplete because it provides a probabilistic, rather than deterministic, description of reality and lacks a unified theory combining gravity. While highly successful in technology, it fails to explain "hidden variables" that could determine precise outcomes. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=quantum+physics+incomplete
3. Pilot Wave Theory : Bohmian mechanics (pilot wave theory) is a deterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics where particles have definite trajectories guided by a "pilot wave" (the wave function). Proposed by Louis de Broglie (1927) and developed by David Bohm (1952), it resolves quantum paradoxes (like Schrodinger’s cat) by positing that quantum randomness stems from unknown initial positions (hidden variables). https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Bohm%27s+Pilot+Wave+Theory
4. EnFormAction : A neologism involving Energy + Information + Activation. Aquinas called the Omnipotence of God the "Primary Cause", likewise EFA is the general cause of every change in the world. But not imagined as a humanoid God tinkering with the creation. Instead, it’s more like the calculations of a computer program. https://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page8.html
EINSTEIN'S UNFINISHED REVOLUTION
The Search for what lies beyond the quantum by Lee Smolin (2018)
Objectivity vs Subjectivity
Observation vs Intuition
Theory vs Fact
Idealism vs Realism Universal vs Cosmic
Quantum Indeterminism seems unrealistic
Probability : a measure of not-yet-real states
Potential : not yet actual events & things
Principle : an axiom for reasoning from not - yet understood to knowledge
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