Paradigm Shifts

One of the most influential shows I ever watched, specifically, was the Cosmos episode where Carl Sagan talked about Mars Retrograde, as the single (as I recall) problem with the Ptolemaic model of the solar system.  What they had were planets revolving around the Earth, with each planet itself revolving in a second circle.  That, in any event, is how I recall the model.

The point is that it was highly accurate, other than some seemingly small details, which could be, and largely were, swept under the rug.

What if our own notions of quantum and macro physics are like the Ptolemaic model: highly accurate, but missing some fundamental piece?

As I understand String Theory, for example, it only has one type of “particle”, which is a sort of filament, which can manifest in many ways.  The math can be made to square with Relativity.  Conceptually, it simplifies a lot of things.  But it cannot be tested.  It remains–and is likely to remain–merely a very aesthetically pleasing possibility.

But it’s not unreasonable to suppose when you take something like Wave/Particle duality–one of the best tested facts in science–that we are missing something important.

For important discoveries to take place, you have to clear ground.  You have to have a place holder for “Something big that we missed”.

To me, the obvious examples that most physicists seem to devote little energy to are the Zero Point Field/Quantum Vacuum, and the seemingly related Higg’s Field.   We found the Higg’s Boson.  The field exists.  Now what?  I don’t know.  My understanding is that work is underway on the next big particle “Lab”, which will no longer quite be an accelerator.

But at all times, in all areas of life–work, romance, driving, creative projects, religion/spirituality, parenting, etc.–you always have to have a place holder for “Something big that I missed.”  That enables the process of perception to happen much more smoothly.

In my own case, I alternate, if I may say so (and nobody is stopping me!!!), brilliance, and profound stupidity.  My brain works in odd pathways.  It leads me places nobody else I know goes, but it also sometimes fails me completely, leaving me blind to obvious facts literally everyone but me sees.

So I have considerable first hand experience of missing big things.  I could tell some funny, to many incomprehensible, stories from my childhood.  I was severely dissociated.  I lived in my own little dream world, and there is no reason not to suppose that is still in many respects true, although I am vastly, vastly better now even than I was ten years ago.