Theory of Reality - Introduction

It's the dawn of a new year and we're feeling pretty ambitious, so we're going to embark on a series of articles that should provide a foundation for all other explorations or dialogs we may cover in this blog - we're going to define or perhaps redefine - reality.

First things first, it's important to note that we consider the Theory of Reality to be quantitatively different than the current crop of Theories of Everything floating around out there. Our goal with this attempt to define reality is not solve a particular challenge associated with current scientific theories - our goal rather is to challenge some basic assumptions and potentially influence the collective conceptual framework which may then lead more concrete proofs or applications. This is not meant to be scientific or perhaps even a Philosophy of Science related exercise - it is Philosophy at the macro level - we are in essence trying to "stir the pot" and act as a catalyst for something new and more interesting...

Reality is the starting point for all philosophy - so it naturally needs to be the starting point for Philosophy 2.0. As we progress though this exploration we will acknowledge our influences as well as some key concepts and thinkers who we don't agree with - we'll let you decide who makes more sense.

We'll mention also where we're coming from briefly - part of our inspiration for this approach or definition comes from our experience developing systems as well as complex systems of systems environments. Information Technology while borrowing from core scientific advances also represents an interesting playground for philosophical musings given the parallels between virtual or digital environments and physical ones.

So let's start at the highest level definition - Reality is that which defines you and that you define. It is both the medium and message. It is both particle and wave, both perception and physical response. Reality is duality but it is more. Reality is a universal interconnected, system but it is more. Reality is conscious realization and it is the potential of universal imagination, but it is more...

So we've established some interesting parameters here already:

• Reality is multidimensional.
• Reality is relative in perspective.
• Reality is pertinent in different ways at different levels of perception.
• Reality is both a conceptual and physical construct and both of those are interdependent on one another.
• Reality is flexible, fluid and in our case - expanding.
• Reality is collective, interactive and dynamic.

The most important thing that we haven't mentioned yet is this - reality is pattern-based and it is pattern-based out of necessity. The reason that this is the case makes sense once you think about it - the deliberate or even indirect engineering of anything at a discrete or individual level would be infinitely complex and ultimately chaotic. For compelx systems to develop, evolve and self-replicate they must be based entirely on patterns as well as the information needed to for those patterns to interface with one another. Both Quantum theory and Chaos theory tried to celebrate or institutionalize the notion that certain complex systems couldn't quantified - they were and are both wrong. What those theories represent are transitional states of understanding on our part - not incomprehensible systems in nature - but we'll discuss this contention in much greater depth later.

The key take-away here is this - any coherent and self sustainable system (of reality) that can function without collapse requires patterns and pattern generation capabilities. The deeper and perhaps meta-physical question here is where do all of those patterns come from? We will tackle that one also later on.

In Conclusion, our contention is that Reality represents an infinite collection of patterns within patterns (the collection is infinite, not the number of patterns which are relatively simple and limited) and is manifested real whenever any of those patterns becomes self-aware. We realize that part of this statement is fairly controversial and challenges of number of classical questions or assumptions in philosophy and we intend to address those - and yes - each of us is a self-aware collection of patterns.

The following articles will explore a number of the key issues brought up here and will include the following topics:

• A re-examination of Relativity.
• Gravity & Dark Matter.
  
• The Theory of Everything Conundrum.
• The Problem with Unified Field Theories.
• What About String Theory?
• What is wrong with the Scientific Method? (exposing its single and most obvious flaw)
  
• Why Quantum Theory has missed the mark.
• Why science can be only partially right and still function (to a point).
• Duality / Mind Body Questions.
• Chaos or Ignorance?
  
• The Jedi Way. (the inter-connected universe, shared reality)
  
• An Expanding Universe or Not.
  
• A New Framework for Philosophy & Science.
  
• A Fractal Reality.
• Collective Reality.
• Dynamic Reality.
• Reality Engineering.
  
• Practical Applications.
• Practical Proofs.
• System of System Theory.
  
• Thought Patterns and a New Information Theory.
  
• The Implications of our Theory of Reality?
  
• Where do the patterns come from?
  

We hope that you enjoy these articles and that they at least provoke some thoughts that you may not have otherwise considered. This is context writ large - the context within which all else can be fit and associated - as we will see context makes all the difference when dealing with reality. The other important aspect of reality, perhaps even the most important one is this - it is cannot ever be considered complete - because it evolves and will continue to evolve along with us. At any given instant - reality represents the sum of influences and understanding that we apply to it. This is why we say we define it as much as it defines us. Reality isn't so much changing in this view as it is literally expanding as our understanding of it grows and matures.

Thought, like the rest of nature or reality, is also comprised of patterns...



Copyright 2010, Stephen Lahanas