Quantum field theory (QFT) examines the "objective" side of reality and remains our most accurate, experimentally verified theory. Its penultimate achievement; a profound understanding regarding the true nature of Light and Matter. But above and beyond this, its most fundamental insight also turns out to be its most counterintuitive claim.
You see, QFT has revealed to us that the ground of reality is "made" of wholly immaterial "stuff" (read: inherently massless quantum fields.) It shows that even matter — mass, inertia, resistance to acceleration, whatever one wishes to call it — originates via a similar mechanism to that of light. Like light, matter manifests as an energetic oscillation that couples together and actualizes multiple quantum fields.
The theory of quantum fields thus unifies light and matter and causes us to reconsider our universe's metaphysical underpinning. Essentially, QFT tells us the universe's very fabric lacks a substantial base and is instead better envisioned as a timeless, omnipresent, and immaterial ocean of energy. As should now be seen as self-evident, it is from this oceanic and "baseless fabric" that all of existence comes into being, including the visionary eye that reads and perceives this now.
What of the rich realm of phenomenal experience and meaning making? What of the "subjective" side of Nature that is itself our nature? What exactly is 'consciousness' and how does it get us in touch the various ways in which the world is? Finally, if 'mind' was not always present in the universe's evolutionary unfolding, from where did it come?
With these timeless questions, we see we are dealing with a 'somewhat' that evades concrete definition. As for the 'from whence it came' problem, we see that consciousness suffers from the so-called "cosmic late-comer problem," the issue of explaining how awareness could arise in an essentially unaware universe. This book answers these riddles by arguing that what we know so intimately as consciousness is an eternal property of the cosmos.
The "that" we know and live as "awareness" is an "always-already-there" characteristic of the quantum foam vacuum — a timeless property of the "baseless fabric" that makes up our universe. Essentially, consciousness is a kind of quantum field but is not "always on." Patiently, it lies in wait for sufficiently complex entangled hierarchies to access and activate it. The result we know and live as "being human."
The human being etches out his or her existence by walking the knife-edge that cleaves apart the subjective and objective realms of experience. Both of which undeniably exist. The sorrow of loss is no less real then the paper we wax poetic upon in trying to express it. And so it bears repeating, both mind and matter exist.
Now, considering consciousness in light of quantum mechanics is a modern taboo. But it is not one without warrant, for as we have just explained, both mind and matter exist. Quantum physics does its best to tell us what matter is. While the philosophy of mind attempts to get to the bottom of what consciousness is. The trouble begins when we try to merge the two for the simple reason that mind and matter seem to be "made" of irreconcilably different "substances." Naively considered, mind is ephemeral while matter is substantial.
However, this book answers this riddle by showing how a novel interpretation of quantum field theory places both mind and matter on similar ground by revealing them to be complimentary aspects of one and the same thing — the void-vacuum quantum foam. Here, the quantum foam as physical vacuum takes on the capacity to culminate in consciousness, if and only if, the quantum systems present to it achieve the complexity to do so. Which, we know they are, for each of us is just such a system.
-
Purchase the Hardcover Now!
Paperback & E-book to followA monumental effort by its author, The Baseless Fabric of this Vision is a project years in the making. Countless hours of research and experimentation have gone into explicating the ideas contained within. Given its subject matter, this is no easy book. But it will reward the patient reader with an understanding of quantum field theory and philosophy of mind. Every effort to distinguish between interpretation and fact has been made. And every quantum theoretical concept is given its due explanation within the novel framework. The result is an intuitive vision of reality as a whole when envisaged through the eye of quantum field theory.
Roughly $40 (CDN) for the Hardcover
Peer behind the veil and discover what you and the universe truly are.
Discover quanta and their curious habits
Quanta are waves in fields — highly unified, specific quantities of spatio-temporally extended field energy that behave in ways that transcend wave-particle duality.
Intuitively grasp quantum-theoretical concepts
With the "waves-in-fields" picture, learn what wavefunctions are and how and why they collapse as well as superposition, entanglement, decoherence and uncertainty.
Find out how waves can embody particulate properties
Learn how waves manifest as momentum, carry energy and embody information. See how particles don't actually exist but are instead a classical relic.
Learn to recognize alternate modes of consicousness
Learn how to identify various modes of consciousness and the types of knowledge imparted to us by them.
Uncover what quantum theory is really telling us
Uncover the fascinating and novel metaphysical worldview that is revealed by an in-depth analysis of quantum field theory.
Catch a glimpse of who and what you truly are
The universe experiencing itself through the lens of an individual but simultaneously infinitely many of them.