Maybe goodbye to dark energy and dark matter

@Metal-Brain said
Yes, but it does not have mass.

Yes...but...I suppose the idea is that, on account of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, virtual particles can spontaneously emerge from the energy intrinsic to space itself.

To be honest (and what I'm about to say might make more sense if you first read my posts in the electron shell thread) this whole uncertainty principle thing is but one of a plethora of considerations that led me to adopt an idealist metaphysics that puts consciousness at the foundation of reality. I mean, really, why should a supposedly objective universe, separate and independent of consciousness, somehow not be able to continuously keep its books balanced to the last penny? Yet it doesn't. It juggles the books like a circus clown.

Max Planck is the father of quantum physics. He was on the ball. Here's a bit about him:

Max Planck, the originator of quantum theory, expressed the view that consciousness is fundamental and that matter is derivative from it. He believed that "everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness." This suggests a perspective where the mental realm is primary, and physical reality is somehow built upon or emerges from consciousness.

More here: https://aish.com/max-planck-and-the-mind-who-is-the-matrix-of-all-matter/

In fact, quite a few of the pioneers of quantum mechanics were metaphysical idealists. That was back in the days when it was understood that science wanders blindly without some philosophy to light its way. Nowadays most physicists are very narrow-minded mathematical technicians who don't understand a lick about the Big Questions of Existence. They want a Grand Unified Theory of Everything, but don't ever think to inquire into the nature of their own conscious selves. Good luck with that!

If reality can't keep track of the small things, and manifests every sign of constantly "forgetting" how much energy a physical system possesses, so that things like quantum tunneling can happen, that suggests to me (but does not prove!) that reality is a mental construct. Reality is experience, and only experiencing entities can trick themselves or "forget" things. Loosely, forgetting is a kind of cognitive dissociation. I would wager that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle could be modeled as a dissociative process in a universal field of "raw" consciousness.

I dunno. Consider it, if just for a minute! 😉

@Soothfast said
Yes...but...I suppose the idea is that, on account of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, virtual particles can spontaneously emerge from the energy intrinsic to space itself.

To be honest (and what I'm about to say might make more sense if you first read my posts in the electron shell thread) this whole uncertainty principle thing is but one of a plethora of considera ...[text shortened]... cess in a universal field of "raw" consciousness.

I dunno. Consider it, if just for a minute! 😉

A lot of what you say is true but there is a lot of research into what consciousness is and one theory is our brains use quantum physics somehow so there is that line of thought.

@sonhouse said
A lot of what you say is true but there is a lot of research into what consciousness is and one theory is our brains use quantum physics somehow so there is that line of thought.

That may be. Sir Roger Penrose still insists that it works through microtubules in the brain. He's not a biologist, but this is an interdisciplinary puzzle.

What is a fact, however, is that for all its gee-whiz weirdness, quantum physics is still a quantitative model, and so it faces the same challenges as any other physical theory in explaining the "hard problem of consciousness."

There has to be a natural realm from which the universe arose. Space and time are bound up within the universe, so it's best that the realm not have what's called extension, or dimensionality. That is, the realm should not itself have dimensions of space or time, since that just begs the question of where everything came from. "Everything" must include space and time as well as energy. It has to be as simple a model as possible, self-consistent, and mesh seamlessly with known science.

@Soothfast said
That may be. Sir Roger Penrose still insists that it works through microtubules in the brain. He's not a biologist, but this is an interdisciplinary puzzle.

What is a fact, however, is that for all its gee-whiz weirdness, quantum physics is still a quantitative model, and so it faces the same challenges as any other physical theory in explaining the "hard problem of con ...[text shortened]... It has to be as simple a model as possible, self-consistent, and mesh seamlessly with known science.

Now there are conjectures floating about where the entire universe is conscious.
If we assume that is true, then the thoughts would take millions of years to complete due to that pesky speed of light thing....