Abstract
What is the fundamental nature of reality ? After the development of the atomic theory of matter and nearly 100 years of quantum mechanics, we know that all objects in our world are made up of discrete units, namely atoms and molecules. Experiments in atomic, nuclear, and particle physics have shown that this discreteness (i.e. digital character) is replicated at shorter and shorter distance scales, to dazzlingly short ranges and almost unimaginably high energies. Thus, despite the superficial appearance of continuity at the macroscopic length scales on which we live and breathe, at its core reality is discrete in character, that is to say, digital. However the fact that this discreteness is correctly described by quantum mechanics means that it is a special kind of “digitalness” which we can express in the following way: we live in a world made of digital objects with the added complexity of a continuous quantum-mechanical phase. In this essay I address this idea and show how the historical development of first discrete and then continuous mathematics led to a classical physics which was based on untested assumptions of the continuity of matter. Ultimately these assumptions were unphysical, and had to be rejected in the face of experimental evidence from chemistry and atomic spectroscopy. The resulting development of quantum mechanics led to the correct modern digital description of matter but with the crucial addition of a quantum-mechanical phase factor.
Michael Patrick Bradley