Science

Before I started reading Liam Graham's book, Physics Fixes All the Facts, from the title alone I thought I'd have problems with that provocative statement. But after reading 11 of the 16 chapters, I'm having difficulty finding holes in Graham's arguments. According to Graham, the main reason people think there's more to causal reality than physics is that novel phenomena (like consciousness) seem to emerge  from basic phenomena like the particles and forces known to physics. He doesn't deny that more is different, the key adage of those who worship at the scientific altar of emergence. But he doesn't believe…

About a week ago I wrote "Is consciousness more fundamental to reality than quantum physics?" The title of that blog post came from the title of an article in New Scientist that focused on the central messages of two books,  The Blind Spot by Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser, and Evan Thompson, and Physics Fixes All the Facts by Liam Graham. I've started reading each book. So far, I'm not finding a direct contradiction between them. The Blind Spot argues that science has gone awry by failing to recognize that everything we humans know and experience, naturally including scientific activities, rests…

The title of this blog post was the subtitle to an article by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan in the May 2, 2026 print edition of New Scientist, "The essence of reality." It became the title of the online article, which I've shared below. Is consciousness more fundamental to reality than quantum physics? | New Scientist Here's how the article starts out: Imagine you could take a cosmic mixing bowl and cook up reality from scratch. It would be a strange kind of baking, with the end results including everything from space-time and satellites to cats and the cosmic web. But here’s the…

If you want a synopsis of particle physicist Daniel Whiteson's book, Do Aliens Speak Physics?, an article by Whiteson in the March 14, 2026 issue of New Scientist provides an overview of his provocative question. Here's a PDF of the article. It starts out this way: Would aliens do physics, or is science a human invention? | New Scientist Modern physics offers a remarkable lens on reality. In just over a century, it has decoded the architecture of atoms, traced the early history of the universe and produced laws that seem to hold everywhere, from Earth’s crust to distant galaxies. It is…

Reality. It's everything that exists. Simple enough. Seemingly. But the reality is that reality is fiendishly difficult to define, figure out, get a handle on, tie down. Philosophers have debated the nature of reality for thousands of years. Humans, surely, for much longer. And modern science, even with all of its accomplishments, continues to struggle with what reality is, and isn't. So when the most recent issue of New Scientist arrived today, I took a look at the cover and knew that I'd have to read the Welcome to the Pluriverse article right away, because the subtitle, Forget the multiverse…

There's something about a provocative unproven theory in physics that appeals to me much more than a provocative unproven theory in religion, mysticism, and spirituality in general. Probably it's because physicists approach a deeper understanding of reality from a solid factual foundation, while that isn't the case with religion, mysticism, and spirituality in general -- unless the new idea there is completely based on natural, rather than supernatural, notions. So when the November 29-December 5 issue of New Scientist appeared in my mailbox with the cover blaring The Quantum Leap -- A surprising twist on cause and effect reveals how…