Why the Foundations of Physics are Built on Nothing but God
Summary: The foundations of physics are built on two logically incompatible premises. The foundation of relativity theory is built on the principle of equivalence, while the foundation of quantum theory is built on the premise of unitary time evolution. The problem is that these two premises are not logically consistent with each other. The idea of unitary time evolution implies that there is a universally valid definition of time that all observers will agree upon, while the principle of equivalence tells us that there can be no such universal definition of time in a curved space-time geometry with gravity. The only valid definition of time in a curved space-time geometry is the observer’s own proper-time. Which of these premises is true? The holographic principle of quantum gravity demonstrates that only the principle of equivalence is a valid assumption, and that unitary time evolution can only have an approximate degree of validity in the sense of an effective field theory, like a thermodynamic equation of state. Once we understand that the only valid definition oif time is the observer’s own proper-time and that the only valid underlying principle of quantum theory is the nature of entropic information, we are naturally led to the holographic principle as an observer-centric and observer-dependent description of the observable reality of the observer’s own holographic world. That holographic world naturally arises in the observer’s accelerated frame of reference as entropic information is encoded on the observer’s event horizon that acts as its holographic screen. Different observers can only share a consensual reality to the degree their holographic screens overlap and share information. The observer itself is nothing more than the observing consciousness present at the central point of view of its own holographic world. There are three big questions: Where does the observer’s consciousness come from? Where does the energy inherent in the observer’s accelerated frame of reference come from? Where does the information encoded on the observer’s holographic screen come from? We are then led to the conclusion that the whole thing is built on nothing but God. What we call God is the Source of all information, energy and consciousness.
1) Introduction
All attempts to formulate physics in a foundational way are fraught with logical contradictions that result from false assumptions, circular reasoning and paradoxes of self-reference. This is the problem of the first principles of our theories and the lack of logical consistency among the first principles. Where do those first principles come from? Can those first principles be logically consistent? A first principle of quantum theory is unitary time evolution, which assumes there is a universally valid definition of time that all observers will agree upon. A first principle of relativity theory is the principle of equivalence, which tells us that an observer’s accelerated frame of reference is equivalent to the nature of gravity in a curved space-time geometry, within which there generally is no universally valid definition of time that all observers will agree upon. Only the observer’s own proper-time has any validity as a definition of time. Until we reconcile this logical contradiction, there can be no hope of unifying quantum theory with relativity theory.
2) The Information Loss Paradox
The information loss paradox was discovered because Stephen Hawking was able to show that the information for everything that falls into a black hole becomes disentangled from the information for the Hawking radiation that carries thermal energy away from the black hole as the black hole appears to evaporate away. Hawking radiation depends on the properties of a killing vector defined at the event horizon of the black hole. The killing vector replaces the ordinary time derivative, which is only possible when time and space decouple and positive and negative frequencies can be separated, which is the case at the event horizon of a black hole. In quantum theory, E=hf, and so negative frequencies carry negative energy. This is related to unitary time evolution since the defining equation of quantum theory at an operator level is H=iħ∂/∂t, which tells us the quantum state evolves in time according to ψ(t)=exp(−iHt/ħ)ψ(0).
The decoupling of space and time within a curved space-time geometry is understood to only occur in a stationary space-time, for which there is a continuous family of time displacements that preserve the metric of the space-time geometry. These time displacements are generated by a time-like killing vector, which allows for a natural time parameter to be defined. Only in such a stationary space-time geometry can positive and negative frequencies be separated. Unitary time evolution is only a valid concept in such a stationary space-time. The essential nature of this logical argument can be found in Roger Penrose’s book The Road to Reality.
The nature of Hawking radiation at a black hole event horizon is that virtual particle-antiparticle pairs appear to separate at the event horizon. The virtual particle is radiated away from the event horizon toward an external observer and appears to become a particle of thermal radiation that carries positive heat energy, which gives the event horizon an effective temperature called the Unruh temperature, while the virtual antiparticle falls into the black hole and carries negative energy that reduces the mass of the black hole as the black hole appears to evaporate away. This is only possible because the black hole event horizon has a killing vector that decouples space from time and separates positive and negative frequencies. When considered in isolation, this process appears to cause information loss within the black hole and violate unitary time evolution because the separation of positive and negative frequencies at the event horizon is equivalent to a quantum state reduction that disentangles the quantum state.
In quantum field theory, the virtual particle-antiparticle pairs are entangled in a quantum state. Information is encoded in a quantum state of potentiality in terms of that quantum entanglement. A quantum state reduction disentangles the quantum state as an observable state is actually observed, and in the process of observation, information is lost. As considered in isolation, information appears to become lost at the black hole event horizon as virtual particle-antiparticle pairs appear to separate and become disentangled, which is equivalent to an observation or a quantum state reduction. That’s how Hawking understood the information loss paradox, which seems to violate unitary time evolution. The whole paradox is a red herring since unitary time evolution only applies to the quantum state if there is no observation or quantum state reduction.
By its very nature, an observation reduces the quantum state, which disentangles whatever was entangled within the quantum state, and resets the process of unitary time evolution. Only if we consider unitary time evolution without quantum state reduction and observation is there an information loss paradox. This is a red herring since the very nature of events in time are observations that reduce the quantum state and disentangle whatever was entangled within the quantum state. When we talk about observing Hawking radiation, we’re talking about reducing and disentangling the quantum state. There’s only an information loss paradox if we consider things at the level of unitary time evolution, which means no observations are being made.
The holographic principle was discovered because it is just not correct to consider the black hole in isolation. We can’t just consider what’s happening to information at a black hole event horizon. We also have to consider what’s happening to information out at a cosmic event horizon. The cosmic event horizon is like a holographic screen that projects all the images of whatever is observed to happen in a holographic world, which includes the black hole. The information that characterizes the black hole is ultimately encoded on the cosmic horizon. Everything perceivable in a holographic world can ultimately be reduced to entangled qubits of information encoded on a cosmic horizon. The AdS/CFT correspondence solves the information loss paradox because the boundary of anti de Sitter space also has a time-like killing vector that decouples space from time and allows for the separation of positive and negative frequencies. This means that unitary time evolution is valid at the boundary of anti de Sitter space, which is like a cosmic horizon. In the sense of unitary time evolution, there never is any information loss in anti de Sitter space, but the AdS/CFT correspondence is a special case that only applies to anti de Sitter space.
A unique time variable can be defined on the boundary of anti de Sitter space because there is a uniquely defined time-like killing vector at the boundary that decouples space from time and allows a conformal field theory to be defined on the boundary that undergoes unitary time evolution. The conformal field theory is equivalent to the effects of gravity as experienced within anti de Sitter space. In the sense of the holographic principle, all the effects of gravity that can be experienced within anti de Sitter space are a holographic projection of the way entangled qubits of information are encoded on the anti de Sitter boundary, which acts as a holographic screen.
The boundary of anti de Sitter space is a conformal boundary. The killing vectors defined at the boundary of anti de Sitter space are the killing vectors of a sphere that generate a rotation group, similar to the Lorentz group of Minkowski space. The boundary of anti de Sitter space is a conformal Minkowski space. This includes a time-like killing vector that allows for a definition of time in the sense of a time translation. That’s why a conformal field theory can be defined on the boundary of anti de Sitter space that undergoes unitary time evolution, just like the quantum field theories defined in Minkowski space. The geometry of de Sitter space is very different in that de Sitter space is not a stationary geometry and no unique time-like killing vector can be defined in de Sitter space that all observers will agree upon that allows for unitary time evolution in the sense H=iħ∂/∂t. The basic problem is the de Sitter cosmic horizon is observer-dependent. The nature of dark energy tells us that every observer is at the central point of view of its own accelerated expansion of space and every observer has its own de Sitter cosmic horizon. The only valid definition of time in de Sitter space is the observer’s own proper-time.
There’s recently been a great deal of interest in how the AdS/CFT correspondence solves the information loss paradox in terms of entangled black holes that are connected by wormholes. This is called ER=EPR. The wormhole is an Einstein-Rosen bridge that connects a pair of black holes, which are entangled like an EPR pair of spin variables. When we don’t consider the black hole in isolation, but consider how the information the black hole encodes on its event horizon is entangled through wormholes with the information other black holes encode, there is no loss of information as Hawking radiation appears to be radiated away from the black hole. The quantum entanglement of black holes through their connection by wormholes preserves all the information at the level of unitary time evolution and an entangled quantum state. The ultimate solution for the information loss paradox in anti de Sitter space is the way entangled qubits of information are encoded on the conformal boundary of anti de Sitter space that defines that holographic world.
There are several reasons why the information loss paradox is a red herring. First, the paradox only applies at the level of unitary time evolution, which assumes the quantum state is never reduced and no observations ever occur. By its very nature, an observation of Hawking radiation is a quantum state reduction that disentangles the quantum state. Information is always lost when an observation is made and the quantum state is disentangled. When we talk about the events that occur in time, we’re talking about things at the level of observation, which implies quantum state reduction and information loss. Second, we always have to consider how information is encoded on a cosmic horizon. Whatever is being observed in a holographic world, like a black hole, that information is ultimately encoded on the cosmic horizon. The information for everything perceivable in a holographic world can ultimately be reduced to information encoded on the cosmic horizon. This was the whole motivation for the discovery of the holographic principle in the first place. We can’t consider the black hole and its Hawking radiation in isolation. The information for the Hawking radiation and the information encoded on the black hole event horizon are both ultimately encoded on a cosmic horizon. Third, we don’t live in anti de Sitter space. We live in de Sitter space. We live in an expanding universe characterized by dark energy and the accelerated expansion of space. Unitary time evolution does not apply to de Sitter space because there is no uniquely defined time-like killing vector in de Sitter space that all observers will agree upon as a definition of time. Every observer has its own unique point of view from which space appears to expand, every observer observes its own unique de Sitter cosmic horizon, and every observer has its own uniquely defined proper-time. The whole concept of unitary time evolution is invalid in de Sitter space when an observer’s de Sitter cosmic horizon is understood to encode information for everything that observer can observe in its own holographic world.
3) The Fallacy of Formulating Quantum Theory in Minkowski Space
Minkowski space is characterized by the symmetries of the Lorentz group, which are symmetries of space-time translations and rotations in the geometry that underlie the physical conservation laws of energy, momentum and angular momentum, including spin angular momentum. The generators of the Lorentz group are 4x4 matrices similar to the Pauli spin matrices, and their commutation relations obey a Lie algebra. There are 10 generators of the Lorentz group, which correspond to 4 space-time translations and 6 space-time rotations. There are also 10 killing vectors in Minkowski space that can be understood as the generators of the symmetries of the space-time geometry. The killing vectors also have commutation relations that obey the same Lie algebra, and so the killing vectors are equivalent to the generators of the Lorentz group.
Minkowski space allows for a definition of a time variable in terms of a time-like killing vector that generates a time displacement that preserves the metric and leaves the spatial dimensions unchanged. All observers in Minkowski space will agree upon the same definition of time, which is why unitary time evolution and quantum field theories can be defined in Minkowski space. There has to be a universally accepted definition of time that all observers will agree upon. This is not the case in a dynamically curved space-time geometry with gravity. In general, the only valid definition of time in a dynamically curved space-time geometry is the observer’s own proper-time, as the observer follows a world-line through that space-time geometry. Each observer has its own definition of time given in terms of its own proper-time, and in general different observer’s will not agree upon the definition of time.
This is the situation in de Sitter space. Every observer in de Sitter space is at the central point of view of its own accelerated expansion of space and observes events in that space-time geometry from that point of view. Every observer observes its own observer-dependent de Sitter cosmic horizon. Every observer defines time in terms of its own proper-time as the observer follows a world-line through that space-time geometry. Different observers simply do not agree upon the definition of time. My point of view is not the same as your point of view. My cosmic horizon is not the same as your cosmic horizon. My proper-time is not the same as your proper-time.
This is the basic reason why unitary time evolution and quantum field theories cannot in general be defined in a dynamically curved space-time geometry, and the reason why gravity cannot be understood as a quantum field theory and unified with the other quantum field theories. There simply is no definition of time that all observers will agree upon, and so unitary time evolution is generally not a valid concept in a dynamically curved space-time geometry with gravity.
In the general case of a dynamically curved space-time geometry, there is no time-like killing vector that represents time translation invariance and allows for a definition of a time variable that all observers will agree upon. The only definition of time that is generally valid in a curved space-time geometry is the observer’s own proper-time that the observer experiences as the observer follows an accelerated world-line through that curved space-time geometry, which literally arises from the observer’s own acceleration. The principle of equivalence tells us that the effects of gravity are equivalent to the observer’s own acceleration in its own accelerated frame of reference. Different observers in different accelerated frames of reference observe different effects of gravity because they observe a different dynamically curved space-time geometry.
The very idea of relativity theory is as a description of the different effects different observers observe in different frames of reference that move relative to each other with either uniform or accelerated motion. A frame of reference is an observer and its coordinate system, which can be represented in terms of spatial and time coordinates. The observer itself can only be understood as the central point of view that arises at the origin of that coordinate system and observes whatever effects appear to happen in that coordinate system. The word relative literally refers to the different effects that different observers observe in different coordinate systems that move relative to each other. Minkowski space only describes uniform relative motion, while the notion of gravity or a curved space-time geometry implies accelerated motion.
In general, different observers do not agree upon the different effects of gravity that they observe in different accelerated frames of reference. This is the reason a universally valid time variable cannot be defined that all observers will agree upon. The only valid definition of time in a curved space-time geometry with gravity is the observer’s own proper-time as the observer follows a world-line through that curved space-time geometry. Only the observer’s own proper-time is invariant in relativity theory. This is the fundamental reason unitary time evolution is not a valid concept in a curved space-time geometry. In the general case of a curved space-time geometry with gravity, there is no universally valid time variable that can be defined that all observers will agree upon. Each observer only knows about its own proper-time. What this means is that the whole foundational structure of quantum theory, as mathematically represented by unitary time evolution, is invalid in a dynamically curved space-time geometry with gravity.
4) An Observer Centric and Dependent Formulation of Quantum Theory
How do we rectify this fundamental problem? The answer is we have to understand quantum theory in an observer-centric and observer-dependent formalism. Instead of mistakenly assuming that a universally valid time variable can be defined that all observers in a dynamically curved space-time geometry with gravity will agree upon and that unitary time evolution is a valid concept, we have to reformulate quantum theory in an observer-centric and observer-dependent way by recognizing that the only valid definition of time is the observer’s own proper-time.
The first thing we have to recognize is that there is a subtle assumption underlying this problem. We’re assuming that all observers observe the same universe. What if every observer observes its own universe from the central point of view of that universe? This sounds absurd, but this is exactly what the holographic principle of quantum gravity tells us. What exactly is the observer? The observer is nothing more than a point of view that arises at the center of its own holographic world. The observer is observing events in that holographic world. Those observable events are being displayed on the observer’s own holographic screen that encodes information for all those events. The perception of an event is like an image projected from the screen to the observer’s own point of view. In the sense of an object of perception, all perceivable objects are forms of information encoded on the screen. If that screen is like a computer screen that encodes bits of information, all perceivable objects are reducible to bits of information, which John Wheeler called “It from bit”.
This is exactly what the holographic principle accomplishes. We have to begin with the observer in its own accelerated frame of reference. The observer has to come first. In the holographic principle, the observer is only understood as the central point of view of a holographic world that arises in the observer’s own accelerated frame of reference. That holographic world only appears to come into existence because of the observer’s own accelerated motion that gives rise to the observer’s event horizon that acts as its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information. The qubits of information are mathematically represented by matrices, which are two dimensional arrays of numbers that must be encoded on a two dimensional surface. That surface is the observer’s own event horizon that acts as its holographic screen and displays all the images of its own holographic world. The observer itself can only be understood as the central point of view of that holographic world that observes all the events of that world.
Ultimately, the holographic principle tells us that nothing is invariant for all observers. There is no observation that all observers will ultimately agree upon. Nothing that can appear to happen in any observer’s holographic world is invariant for all observers. This strange state of affairs is best exemplified by the nature of Hawking radiation from the event horizon of a black hole.
An accelerated observer that hovers just outside the event horizon of a black hole observes thermal radiation radiated away from the surface of the event horizon, which is called Hawking radiation. This observer is in an accelerated frame of reference since the observer must accelerate away from the black hole with an equal but opposite acceleration as that caused by the force of gravity from the black hole in order to maintain its stationary position just outside the event horizon. The separation of virtual particle-antiparticle pairs at the event horizon gives rise to the observation of this thermal radiation. On the other hand, a freely falling observer that falls into the black hole experiences no acceleration, and therefore observes no event horizon and observes no Hawking radiation. For the freely falling observer, these things simply do not appear to exist. Only the accelerating observer observes the apparent existence of the Hawking radiation.
How can the apparent existence of Hawking radiation be observer-dependent? The simple answer is that’s the nature of a holographic world, where everything that can be observed in that world is observer-dependent. This is inherently an observer-centric and observer-dependent description of observable reality, in which the existence of the observer in its own accelerated frame of reference must come first. Nothing that the observer can observe in its own holographic world can be invariant for all observers. Other observers observe their own holographic world from the central point of view of their own world as events in that world are displayed on their own holographic screen, and what one observer observes in its own world need not be the same as what another observer observes. There can only be limited agreement among the observations of different observers to the degree that their holographic worlds share information, which is only possible because their respective holographic screens can overlap like a Venn diagram.
This strange state of affairs is really no different in kind than a computer-generated virtual reality. Each observer plays the virtual reality game on its own computer as images of the game are displayed on its own computer screen, and what one observer observes only agrees with what another observer observes to the degree that there is information sharing among the different computers, which is possible because their respective computers are connected by the internet.
The lesson of the holographic principle is that the nature of an observable holographic world can only be understood in an observer-centric and observer-dependent way. The observer in its own accelerated frame of reference must come first. The observer’s acceleration gives rise to its event horizon that becomes its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information, and everything the observer can observe in that holographic world is like an image displayed on its own holographic screen that can be reduced to qubits of information encoded on the screen. There is no valid way to define time in that holographic world other than the observer’s own proper-time. Every observer arises at its own point of view at the center of its own holographic world. Every observer experiences its own proper-time as it follows a world-line through that holographic world. Every observer observes events in its own holographic world as displayed on its own holographic screen that arises as its own event horizon due to its own acceleration.
The whole formalism of quantum field theory is based on the mathematical structure of Minkowski space. What we call fields in quantum field theory, like the spin ½ spinor field of the electron or the spin 1 vector field of the photon, are irreducible representations of the Lorentz group. In a dynamically curved space-time geometry with gravity, this mathematical formalism breaks down. The only known way to solve this problem is the holographic principle.
There are other related reasons why gravity, in the sense of Einstein’s field equations for the space-time metric, cannot be understood as a quantum field theory. Quantum field theories can only be defined in gravity-free, flat Minkowski space. There is something logically inconsistent with the idea of quantizing Einstein’s field equations in gravity-free, flat Minkowski space when the very nature of gravity is understood as the dynamical curvature of a space-time geometry.
The holographic principle is what we are naturally led to if we really want to understand the nature of quantum theory in a dynamically curved space-time geometry with gravity. The concepts of unitary time evolution and a universally defined time variable that all observers will agree upon, as assumed in all quantum field theories, are simply not valid concepts in a curved space-time geometry. Once we take the leap into an observer-centric and observer-dependent description of observable reality, we are forced into considering the holographic principle.
5) The Discovery of Holographic Entropy
The other problem with the usual formulation of quantum theory in the sense of unitary time evolution is that when we combine quantum theory with gravity, we discover that there is a shortest distance scale that we can measure, which is the Planck length. We measure distances by focusing energy into a region of space. We have to focus energy in terms of light waves into a region of space to measure a distance scale, and the energy of that light wave is given in terms of its wavelength as E=hc/λ. To measure smaller distance scales we have to use smaller wavelengths, which means higher energies. At some point, we focus so much energy into such a small region of space that we create a black hole. If we focus even more energy into an even smaller region of space, we only make the black hole bigger with a larger event horizon. The distance scale at which the black hole must form is the Planck length, and so the smallest distance scale that we can ever measure is the Planck scale. A Planck-size event horizon is the smallest event horizon that can ever be created. We only make the black hole bigger when we focus more energy into it. Combining gravity with quantum theory tells us that there is a fundamental limitation in our ability to measure distances smaller than the Planck scale.
This is how Jakob Bekenstein discovered holographic entropy. Bekenstein imagined adding a single qubit of information to a black hole, and asked what happens to the event horizon. That single qubit of information is carried by a photon that we know nothing about except for its polarization state. The photon can only be observed to be polarized in either a right-handed or left-handed polarization state, which is the same as a spin variable that can only be observed in either a spin up or spin down spin state, and so carries a single qubit of information. When that qubit of information is added to the black hole, the event horizon of the black hole increases in size by about a single Planck area. It is as though each Planck area on the event horizon encodes a single qubit of information, like pixels on a computer screen. A Planck-size event horizon is the smallest possible event horizon because it encodes a single qubit of information, which is the smallest amount of information we can ever measure.
Larger event horizons encode more qubits of information, but always in terms of an integral number of Planck areas. This is the basic idea of the holographic principle that says the number of qubits of information encoded on the two dimensional surface of an event horizon is given in terms of the surface area, A, of the event horizon and the Planck area, ℓ2=ħG/c3, as n=A/4ℓ2.
A single qubit of information is defined on a Planck-size event horizon. A qubit is defined by an SU(2) matrix, like a Pauli spin matrix, and encodes information in a binary code, like a switch that is either on or off, because the eigenvalues of the SU(2) matrix define observables in terms of spin up and spin down states. This information is inherently entangled because the SU(2) matrix also gives a mathematical representation of rotational symmetry on the surface of a 2-sphere. At the level of qubits, quantum entanglement is a mathematical representation of this rotational invariance, which is fundamentally defined on the surface of an event horizon.
6) Entropic Information as the Foundation of Quantum Theory
Unitary time evolution is not the only defining principle for quantum theory. There is also the idea of entropic information as the foundation for quantum theory. If we abandon the idea of unitary time evolution as fundamental and accept the observer’s own proper-time is the valid definition of time, we can then adopt an observer-centric and observer-dependent description of observable reality and reformulate quantum theory in terms of entropic information.
What exactly is entropic information? The simple answer is a qubit of information. A qubit is mathematically defined by an SU(2) matrix, like a Pauli spin matrix. The eigenvalues of the matrix give the observables in terms of spin up and spin down states, but the matrix also gives a mathematical representation of rotational symmetry on the surface of a 2-sphere, which is the basic nature of quantum entanglement as expressed at the level of qubits. A qubit of information is mathematically represented by an SU(2) matrix, which is a two dimensional array of numbers that can only be encoded on a two dimensional surface. Where does that encoding surface come from? The simple answer is that the encoding surface is a two dimensional surface of space that arises as an event horizon in an observer’s accelerated frame of reference. That encoding surface is the observer’s holographic screen that defines its own holographic world.
It’s worth discussing the nature of event horizons in greater detail. Every accelerating observer has an event horizon, which is a two dimensional bounding surface of space that limits the observer’s observations of things in three dimensional space. Nothing is observable to an accelerating observer beyond the limits of its event horizon because a light ray that originates on the other side of the event horizon can never reach the observer as long as the observer continues to undergo its acceleration. An event horizon is a direct result of the constancy of the speed of light for all observers, independent of their relative states of motion. The speed of light is not about light per se, but is about the maximal rate of information transfer in three dimensional space, similar to how information is transferred within a computer network. Since the holographic principle in effect gives a way to construct the network of a quantum computer, the rate of information transfer plays an important role in that construction. An event horizon acts as a holographic screen when it encodes qubits of information, like a computer screen, which is the output device of a computer. Information is being outputted to an observer. That construction process begins with the observer’s own acceleration that gives rise to its event horizon.
There are several kinds of event horizons. A Rindler horizon is an event horizon that arises when an observer follows an accelerating world-line through its space-time geometry. A de Sitter cosmic horizon arises due to the accelerated expansion of space that expands relative to the central point of view of an observer. At the observer’s cosmic horizon, space is moving away from the observer at the speed of light, and since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, nothing is observable beyond the limits of the cosmic horizon. Observations of our own universe demonstrate that we live in an expanding universe that is characterized by dark energy and the accelerated expansion of space, which is the nature of de Sitter space. A black hole event horizon arises due to the force of gravity at the horizon, which is so strong that even light cannot escape. Escape velocity at the black hole event horizon is the speed of light. An important point is that all the effects of the black hole event horizon, like Hawking radiation, are observer-dependent, and are only observed by an accelerating observer that maintains a stationary position outside the event horizon. A freely falling observer experiences no acceleration and no effects of an event horizon. For the freely falling observer, there is no event horizon and no Hawking radiation. The situation with a Rindler horizon and a de Sitter cosmic horizon is similar. Only an accelerating observer observes the effects of an event horizon, like the thermal radiation of the Unruh effect.
In all cases, a light ray that originates on the other side of the observer’s event horizon can never reach the observer as long as the observer continues to accelerate, and so nothing is observable to the observer beyond the limits of its event horizon. This is simply a consequence of the nature of accelerated motion and the constancy of the speed of light. The holographic principle is built on the nature of event horizons, which act as holographic screens when they encode qubits of information. The event horizon always arises in an observer’s accelerated frame of reference and it is the observer itself that is observing the effects of the event horizon, like the thermal radiation of the Unruh effect. Once we understand the nature of holographic entropy in terms of qubits of information encoded on an observer’s event horizon, and understand the nature of the Unruh effect that gives the event horizon a temperature, then the laws of thermodynamics explain the nature of gravity, as formulated in terms of Einstein’s field equations for the space-time metric, as thermodynamic equations of state that are only valid near thermal equilibrium. Instead of quantizing Einstein’s field equations like a quantum field theory, the holographic principle turns the very idea of quantum gravity completely around, and gives us Einstein’s field equations as an effective field theory that is only valid near thermal equilibrium. The holographic principle is not really a theory of quantum gravity, but a way to completely avoid the problem of field theories. There is a very good reason to avoid field theories all together if we’re trying to formulate physics in a fundamental way. All quantum field theories are built upon the invalid premise of unitary time evolution. Field theories can never be fundamental because time is not fundamental.
Instead of trying to quantize Einstein’s field equations as a quantum field theory, the holographic principle assumes that information is encoded on event horizons in terms of qubits. A qubit is mathematically represented by a two dimensional array of numbers called a matrix that must be encoded on a two dimensional surface. That surface arises as an event horizon in an observer’s accelerated frame of reference. Every observer observes events in its own holographic world as defined by the way qubits of information are encoded on its own event horizon that acts as its holographic screen. The observer’s holographic world is characterized by a dynamically curved space-time geometry that can be reduced to the way qubits of information are encoded on its own event horizon. Every observer carries with itself its own sense of proper-time that arises from its own accelerated motion that can be understood as a world-line that it follows through that curved space-time geometry. The observer itself can only be understood to be a point of view that arises at the center of its own holographic world. Fundamentally speaking, the whole thing has to begin with the observer and its own accelerated motion in an accelerated frame of reference.
Relativity theory doesn’t attempt to explain what the observer is, only that the observer is at the central point of view of its own coordinate system that defines a frame of reference and that the observer observes whatever events appear to happen in that frame of reference. In effect, the observer is at the central point of view of its own space-time geometry that arises in that frame of reference, which is a curved space-time geometry if that frame of reference is accelerated. The holographic principle tells us that curved space-time geometry is defined on the observer’s own holographic screen that arises as an event horizon in its accelerated frame of reference.
The holographic principle tells us that the observer’s curved space-time geometry is not really a fundamental thing. That curved space-time geometry can be reduced to more fundamental information and energy. The nature of that fundamental information are qubits of information encoded on the observer’s own holographic screen that arises as an event horizon in its own accelerated frame of reference. The nature of that fundamental energy is the energy inherent in the observer’s own acceleration. The observer’s curved space-time geometry is characteristic of its own holographic world that can only appear to come into existence due to the observer’s own acceleration, which is more fundamental than the appearance of that holographic world.
Even the elementary particles that appear to exist within and to move through the space-time geometry of the observer’s holographic world, as characterized by their position in space and their motion through space, can be reduced to the same kind of more fundamental information and energy. The position and momentum coordinates of a particle can also be reduced to qubits of information encoded on the observer’s own holographic screen that arises as an event horizon in its own accelerated frame of reference and the energy inherent in that accelerated motion.
7) Formulating the Laws of Physics in a Holographic World
Unitary time evolution is not a valid fundamental concept for a holographic world constructed in de Sitter space. At best, unitary time evolution can only have approximate validity in the sense of an effective field theory, like a thermodynamic equation of state, which is only valid near thermal equilibrium. This is exactly what Ted Jacobson was able to show when he derived Einstein’s field equations for the space-time metric from the laws of thermodynamics by assuming that thermal entropy is given in terms of a holographic entropy that only depends on the surface area, A, of an observer’s event horizon, S=kn=kA/4ℓ2, where the Planck area is defined as ℓ2=ħG/c3, and that the temperature of the event horizon at thermal equilibrium is given in terms of the observer’s acceleration, a, by the Unruh temperature, kT=ħa/2πc. In this scenario, unitary time evolution is only approximately valid at the level of such an effective field theory. Einstein’s field equations only describe the gravitational events that appear to happen inside a holographic world in terms of its dynamical space-time geometry. Those perceived events can always be reduced to qubits of information encoded on a holographic screen that arises as an event horizon in an observer’s accelerated frame of reference and the thermal energy inherent in that accelerated motion.
The laws of thermodynamics tell us that ΔE=TΔS, where holographic entropy is given in terms of the surface area of the observer’s event horizon as S=kn=kA/4ℓ2, and the temperature of the observer’s event horizon at thermal equilibrium is given in terms of the observer’s acceleration as kT=ħa/2πc, which is the Unruh temperature. A change in energy implies a change in entropy, which implies a change in the surface area of the observer’s event horizon, which implies a change in the space-time geometry of the observer’s holographic world. That’s how Ted Jacobson derived Einstein’s field equations from the laws of thermodynamics. Einstein’s field equations are not really fundamental, but are more like an effective field theory that describes gravitational events in the observer’s holographic world when things are near thermal equilibrium.
ΔE=TΔS
Laws of Thermodynamics
We can extend this argument along the lines of the work of Tom Banks and Willy Fischler, who have shown that holographic entropy is a natural result of encoding qubits of information on an observer’s event horizon, which then acts as the observer’s holographic screen. The number of qubits of information encoded on the holographic screen is always given in terms of the surface area of the observer’s event horizon as n=A/4ℓ2. This way of encoding qubits of information on an observer’s event horizon that acts as its holographic screen is called a matrix model, and this formulation of the holographic principle is valid in both anti de Sitter space and de Sitter space.
The key aspect of all matrix models is the encoding of qubits of information on an event horizon. Qubits of information are mathematically represented by the eigenvalues of a matrix, which is how information is encoded in a binary code. A matrix is a two dimensional array of numbers that must be encoded on a two dimensional surface. That two dimensional surface arises as an event horizon in an observer’s accelerated frame of reference. That surface acts as the observer’s holographic screen when it encodes qubits of information. Qubits are encoded on the surface of the event horizon in a rotationally invariant way because an SU(2) matrix gives a mathematical representation of rotational symmetry on the surface of a sphere. At the level of qubits, quantum entanglement is a mathematical representation of this rotational invariance. The smallest possible event horizon is a Planck-size event horizon that encodes a single qubit of information. Larger event horizons encode more qubits, but always as an integral number of Planck areas. The Planck distance is the smallest distance we can measure because a single qubit is the smallest amount of information we can measure, which is encoded on a Planck-size event horizon.
The holographic principle and the nature of dark energy and the accelerated expansion of space tell us every observer has its own holographic world defined on its own de Sitter cosmic horizon that acts as its own holographic screen. Every observer is at the central point of view of its own holographic world. Everything the observer can observe in its own holographic world can be reduced to entangled qubits of information encoded on its own cosmic horizon. Everytime the observer makes an observation of something in its holographic world, the entangled information encoded on its holographic screen is disentangled as the quantum state of that holographic world is reduced, and information is lost. Instead of unitary time evolution, which is not a valid concept for a holographic world constructed in de Sitter space, we can only talk about a sequence of observable events that occur in time as observed by the observer at the central point of view of its own holographic world. Only the observer’s own proper-time is a valid definition of time.
How do we explain the other laws of physics, like the electromagnetic and nuclear forces? The answer is the usual unification mechanisms of extra compactified dimensions of space and super-symmetry of space. When we add an extra compactified dimension of space to Einstein’s field equations, Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic field naturally pop out of Einstein’s field equations. This mechanism gives a natural explanation for all gauge theories. A U(1) gauge transformation is a rotation around the extra compactified dimension of space. Gauge theories are understood as fiber bundles, which are vector spaces, like the vector space of the electromagnetic field, that sit on top of a space-time geometry, and are invariant under a gauge transformation. If there is an extra compactified dimension at each point of space-time, a gauge transformation is a rotation around the extra dimension, and gauge fields are extra components of the space-time metric. The nuclear forces are understood to arise in the sense of SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theories, which means we need a total of six extra compactified dimensions of space. These extra compactified dimensions of space don’t even have to be dimensions of space. In the sense of non-commutative geometry, the extra dimensions of space can be understood as non-commuting variables that are defined at every point of ordinary space-time geometry.
With super-symmetry of space, we assume that space has both commuting and anti-commuting dimensions. An anti-commuting dimension is characterized by anti-commuting numbers. When we add anti-commuting dimensions of space in addition to extra compactified dimensions of space to Einstein’s field equations, Dirac’s equation for the electron field naturally pops out of Einstein’s field equations. This mechanism gives a natural explanation for the nature of all the spinor matter fields. This is a natural result of adding anti-commuting dimensions of space to the usual commuting dimensions of space, which have both extended and compactified dimensions.
These mechanisms allow us to formulate quantum electrodynamics as an effective field theory, which like a thermodynamic equation of state, is only valid near thermal equilibrium. All quantum field theories are only valid as effective field theories. When we quantize an effective field theory, the quantum fluctuations that we call virtual particles are only a valid description of a holographic world in the sense of small quantum fluctuations around thermal equilibrium.
For a physicist, these are all natural mechanisms because they are mathematical mechanisms. At the level of the laws of physics, nature is mathematical. We’re certainly entitled to ask: Why is nature mathematical? The answer is actually quite simple. The world we perceive is a holographic world, which is really no different in kind from a computer-generated holographic virtual reality. That holographic virtual reality is defined by qubits of information encoded on a holographic screen, which arises as an event horizon in an observer’s accelerated frame of reference. Everything an observer can perceive in its own holographic world can be reduced to qubits of information encoded on its own holographic screen. In effect, the observer is creating a quantum computer as the observer enters into an accelerated frame of reference and its event horizon arises that acts as its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information, just like a computer screen in a computer-generated virtual reality. Even the flow of energy that energizes the quantum computer arises as thermal energy from the observer’s own accelerated motion. The observer’s own accelerated motion is what creates the quantum computer that gives rise to the appearance of the observer’s own computer-generated holographic virtual reality. The operation of that quantum computer is governed by computational rules, which we call the laws of physics, which are like the operating system of the quantum computer. The laws of nature are all computational in nature because they all arise in a computer-generated holographic virtual reality. That’s why at a fundamental level, nature is computational or mathematical.
How do we explain a consensual reality shared by multiple observers? The answer is information sharing. Every observer observes events in its own holographic world from the central point of view of that world as defined by the way information is encoded on its own holographic screen, but when those holographic screens overlap in the sense of a Venn diagram, they can share information, like the information sharing we see in a network of connected computer screen.
The holographic principle clears up a number of other puzzles. The Higg’s mechanism is an example of spontaneous symmetry breaking that gives masses of all the matter particles. The Higg’s mechanism tells us that quantum field theory is not really fundamental, but only has the validity of an effective field theory. In the Higg’s mechanism, we give a scalar particle, which is formulated in terms of a scalar field φ, a Higg’s potential. We have to assume the parameters in this Higgs potential are temperature dependent, which is why this description is only valid at the level of an effective field theory. These parameters have to be parameterized in terms of a critical temperature, Tc, at which the phase transition occurs. When the temperature is above the critical temperature, the parameters are all positive, and we have an ordinary quantum field theory. When the temperature is below the critical temperature, some of the parameters turn negative, and the scalar field takes on a non-zero ground state value at every point in space, like a magnet that spontaneously magnetizes when the microscopic spin variables begin to align. Since the scalar field couples to all the matter fields in terms of an interaction, a non-zero value for φ=φ0 gives masses to all the matter particles. This mechanism is only valid as an effective field theory.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking tells us that mass is not really a fundamental parameter, since all masses arise through the Higg’s mechanism. All particle masses are temperature dependent and spontaneously emerge in the universe as the universe cools in temperature. Massless quantum field theories have no inherent length scale, which gives rise to a conformal symmetry. This is the case for both gravity and electromagnetism since the graviton and the photon are both massless. A conformal symmetry means the theory is invariant under a conformal transformation that rescales the length scale. This kind of symmetry is at work in the holographic principle. The 1/R2 force law of gravity tells us that the graviton has no mass. If we imagine a point source of gravitons, then the intensity of the gravitational flux must fall off as 1/R2 in three dimensional space since the flux is constant across the surface of a 2-sphere. When we understand that all the qubits of information for a graviton are encoded on the surface of an event horizon, then this conformal symmetry has a natural origin. The gravitational field in three dimensional space is reducible to qubits of information encoded on the two dimensional surface of an observer’s event horizon. The holographic principle tells us that all field theories in three dimensional space can be reduced to qubits of information encoded on the two dimensional surface of an event horizon.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking tells us that all the parameters in field theories that describe the nature of elementary particles in three dimensional space, like masses, are temperature dependent and spontaneously emerge in the universe as the universe cools in temperature. The big question is where does temperature or thermal energy come from in the first place? Again, the holographic principle gives a natural answer in terms of the accelerated expansion of space, which is the nature of dark energy or a cosmological constant. The irony is that the cosmological constant is not really a constant, which is again telling us that Einstein’s field equations only have the validity of thermodynamic equations of state or effective field theories that are only valid near thermal equilibrium. The cosmological constant transitions from one false vacuum state to another false vacuum state. With each transition, the cosmological constant takes on a lower value, which gives rise to a larger de Sitter cosmic horizon as R2=3/Λ. As the de Sitter cosmic horizon increases in radius, its Unruh temperature, kT=ħc/2πR, decreases, and its holographic entropy, S=kn=kA/4ℓ2, increases. This scenario explains the second law of thermodynamics as heat flows in a thermal gradient from hotter to colder objects and thermal entropy increases. This also explains the nature of time’s arrow as heat flows in a thermal gradient. The flow of time is directly related to the flow of thermal energy. Ultimately, the cosmological constant transitions to the true vacuum state, in which its final value is zero, the radius of the de Sitter cosmic horizon becomes infinite and the Unruh temperature becomes absolute zero. This is called the heat death of the universe in which both the flow of heat and the flow of time come to an end.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking tells us that mass is not really a fundamental aspect of nature, and that there must be a more fundamental kind of energy that underlies the appearance of mass in the universe. That more fundamental energy is called dark energy, which is understood as the accelerated expansion of space.
Early in the history of the universe, dark energy was very hot because the cosmological constant was very big. A large cosmological constant gives rise to a small radius of the de Sitter cosmic horizon, which has a very hot temperature. This heat can generate very high energy photons, which can create proton-antiproton pairs. At high temperatures, the protons and antiprotons are unstable and can decay into electrons and positrons through the nuclear force, but there is an asymmetry in these decay rates due to chiral symmetry breaking. The Lorentz group, understood as SU(2)XSU(2), allows us to break up the spinor wave-function into right-handed and left-handed components, and chiral symmetry breaking allows for a difference in the strength of the nuclear interaction between these different components. This means the decay rate for antiprotons can be higher than for protons, and so more antiprotons decay than protons. The universe was initially only characterized by dark energy and the accelerated expansion of space, but then transitions to a universe full of protons and electrons. The protons and electrons are initially massless, and only obtain masses through spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Higg’s effect as the universe cools, which naturally happens as the cosmological constant transitions to a lower value and the radius to the de Sitter cosmic horizon increases in size.
The whole idea of quantum theory is based on the idea of constructing a quantum state, which is best understood as a sum over all possible paths in a curved space-time geometry. The observer itself is following the path of an accelerated world-line through that space-time geometry. The quantum state is naturally entangled because the probability amplitude for each path depends on a quantity called the action as P=exp(iA/ħ), which is directly related to unitary time evolution in terms of the probability amplitude for that quantum state as ψ(t)=exp(−iHt/ħ)ψ(0). If we think of the Hamiltonian as total energy H=KE+PE, the action A=∫dt(KE−PE). The problem is there is no natural definition of time that all observers will agree upon in a curved space-time geometry. The only valid time variable is the observer’s own proper-time, τ=∫ds. The observer’s own proper-time plays the role of the action, integrated along its own path. This is easiest to see for the Schwarzschild metric. If proper-time is calculated for the Schwarzschild metric in the non-relativistic limit, it is easy to show that proper-time is equivalent to a classical particle action that describes the classical motion of a particle in a gravitational field. Instead of unitary time evolution as the defining principle of quantum theory, the correct way to formulate quantum theory is in terms of the observer’s own proper-time that plays the role of the action.
It’s worth a brief review of how we got here. The idea of first quantization is based on the idea of a point particle that moves along some path through a space-time geometry. In quantum field theory, that space-time geometry is taken to be flat, gravity-free Minkowski space. The idea of first quantization is to sum over all possible paths that the point particle can follow through that space-time geometry and to weight each path with a probability factor, P=exp(iA/ħ), where the particle action is given in terms of the particle’s kinetic and potential energy as A=∫dt(KE−PE), and where the integral is along the particle’s path. The time variable in the integrand is the same time variable assumed for unitary time evolution, where the particle’s wave-function is assumed to evolve in time in terms of the Hamiltonian operator as ψ(t)=exp(−iHt/ħ)ψ(0). The Hamiltonian operator is broken up into kinetic and potential energy parts as H=KE+PE. The sum over all possible paths or path integral formulation for quantum theory directly follows from unitary time evolution of the wave-function, and is a way to construct the wave-function. The wave-function is a field that obeys a field equation, which is how quantum theory is understood at the level of first quantization. The path integral constructs a wave-function that is a field that obeys a wave or field equation. The classical path of the particle is understood as the path of least action. The second quantization procedure is to sum over all possible configurations of the field and to weight each possible field configuration with the same kind of probability factor, P=exp(iA/ħ), but now the field action is written in terms of the field. Just as a particle action gives rise to classical equations of motion when minimized, a field action also gives rise to classical field equations when minimized, but those field equations are really wave equations that give a representation of quantum theory at the level of first quantization. The whole idea of quantum field theory is based on the idea of the second quantization of fields that arise from a first quantization procedure. The problem is we have to begin with the assumptions of unitary time evolution and that a particle moves along some path through gravity-free Minkowski space, which is the only space-time geometry in which the assumption of unitary time evolution is valid. Only in Minkowski space is there a notion of time translation invariance that allows a time variable to be defined that all observers agree upon. The holographic principle totally reverses this process of quantization in that all field theories arise as thermodynamic equations of state.
The holographic principle tells us that the quantum state is entangled because all the qubits of information encoded on the observer’s own holographic screen are entangled. That holographic screen arises because of the observer’s own acceleration, which gives rise to its event horizon. When the observer makes an observation of something in its holographic world, the quantum state is reduced to an actual observed state, which means the quantum state is disentangled. In terms of a sum over all possible paths, the most likely path in the sense of quantum probability that the observer can follow through its space-time geometry is the path of least action. The path of least action is the classical path that naturally arises when the quantum state is disentangled. The path of least action maximizes the observer’s proper-time, and is like the path that measures the shortest possible distance between two points in the observer’s curved space-time geometry.
Quantum entanglement is best understood at the level of qubits of information encoded on the surface of an event horizon. A qubit is mathematically represented by a two dimensional array of numbers called a matrix, which must be encoded on a two dimensional surface. That two dimensional surface of space arises as the observer’s own event horizon whenever the observer enters into an accelerated frame of reference. The observer’s event horizon acts as its holographic screen when it encodes qubits of information. Quantum entanglement is a natural property of encoding qubits of information in a rotationally invariant way on the surface of the event horizon. This rotational symmetry is mathematically represented by matrices.
The nature of qubits of information encoded on the surface of an event horizon that acts as the observer’s holographic screen fundamentally explains the puzzle of quantum entanglement that Einstein called spooky action at a distance. We imagine that we have two particles with entangled spin states, so that the total spin adds up to zero. This means if the first particle spins up, the second particle must spin down, and vice versa. When those two particles appear in the space-time geometry of the observer’s holographic world and appear to become separated in space, the measurement of the spin of the first particle instantaneously determines the spin state of the second particle. There is really no puzzle here in terms of the holographic principle, since the appearance of both particles in the observer’s space-time geometry can be reduced to qubits of information encoded on the observer’s own holographic screen, and the qubits are inherently entangled until the observer makes an observation of its own holographic world, at which time the qubits become disentangled and the particles appear to take on definite spin states.
The holographic principle solves all these puzzles because the essential nature of the dynamical degrees of freedom for a holographic world are not particles defined in a space-time geometry, as assumed by quantum field theory, nor even the nature of the gravitational field as defined in a curved space-time geometry. The fundamental nature of the dynamical degrees of freedom for a holographic world are qubits of information encoded on a holographic screen that arises as an event horizon in an observer’s accelerated frame of reference. At thermal equilibrium ΔE=TΔS=kTΔn, and the equal partition of energy tells us that each qubit carries the same amount of thermal energy, which is given in terms of the observer’s acceleration as E=kT=ħa/2πc. The holographic thermal entropy of that holographic world is given in terms of the surface area of the observer’s event horizon as S=kn=kA/4ℓ2. When we add dark energy and the accelerated expansion of space to the holographic principle, all the mysteries of the world have a natural explanation.
This tells us that at a foundational level, physics is not really fundamental. The laws of physics are like the computational rules that govern the operation of a quantum computer that gives rise to the appearance of the observer’s own computer-generated virtual reality. That quantum computer is created when the observer enters into an accelerated frame of reference and its event horizon arises that acts as its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information.
The holographic principle tells us that the observer must come first. First the observer comes, then its holographic world appears to come into existence due to its own accelerated motion that gives rise to its event horizon that acts as its holographic screen when qubits of information are encoded. The observer’s holographic screen is displaying images of everything the observer can observe in its own holographic world. All the information for all those things can be reduced to qubits encoded on the screen. This gives an observer-centric and observer-dependent description of the observable reality of the observer’s own holographic world. In no significant way is this description of the observer’s own holographic world different from a computer-generated virtual reality. The observer itself creates the quantum computer that gives rise to the appearance of its own holographic world whenever the observer enters into an accelerated frame of reference.
The odd thing about this explanation is that there really is nothing inside a holographic world. Everything that an observer can perceive in its own holographic world is like the projection of a holographic image from its own holographic screen to its own point of view at the center of that holographic world. The observer’s holographic screen arises as an event horizon in its accelerated frame of reference when the horizon encodes qubits of information. Even the animating energy that animates those holographic images arise from the observer’s own accelerated motion. In reality, there is nothing inside the event horizon and nothing outside the event horizon. Things only appear to exist inside the event horizon because of the holographic projection of images of that holographic world from the observer’s holographic screen to its central point of view.
Remarkably, this is exactly the nature of our world. Evidence from measurements of the background cosmic microwave radiation tells us the world we perceive is asymptotically flat. An asymptotically flat world is like escape velocity, for which the total energy is zero. Escape velocity is defined for a particle that escapes away from a gravitational field when the particle has just enough positive kinetic energy to overcome the negative potential energy of gravitational attraction. When the particle reaches infinity, its motion comes to an end and the force of gravity also comes to end, which means its total energy is zero. For escape velocity, E=KE+PE=0. An asymptotically flat universe has a total energy of zero, just like escape velocity. This is possible since the negative potential energy of gravitational attraction can exactly cancel out all forms of positive energy, like mass energy, kinetic energy and dark energy. That’s the nature of a holographic world, in which everything exactly cancels out to zero. There really is nothing inside a holographic world since that world is only a holographic projection of images.
What exactly is this nothingness? Theoretical physics really has no explanation for the nature of this all-pervading nothingness, which physics simply calls the void or vacuum state. In terms of the holographic principle, this mysterious nothingness is not a space-time geometry. The perceived space-time geometry of the observer’s holographic world is a holographic effect that can be reduced to qubits of information encoded on the observer’s own holographic screen. Like everything else that it can perceive, the space-time geometry the observer perceives in its own holographic world is a holographic effect that only appears to come into existence due to the observer’s own accelerated motion relative to that motionless nothingness.
What about the observer that perceives all the projected images of that holographic world? The observer itself can only be understood as a point of view that arises at the center of its own holographic world. The observer is nothing more than that central point of view. The observer’s holographic world only appears to come into existence because of its own acceleration that gives rise to its event horizon. Just as the observer is nothing more than the central point of view of its own holographic world, the observer’s event horizon is also arising in nothingness. There is nothing outside the observer’s event horizon and there is nothing inside its event horizon. There only appears to be something inside the observer’s event horizon because its horizon encodes qubits of information that give rise to the appearance of its holographic world as holographic images are projected from the observer’s own holographic screen to its central point of view and are animated in the flow of energy that arises from its own accelerated motion.
In reality, the observer at the central point of view of its own holographic world arises from the same nothingness that its holographic world is created within as the observer’s event horizon arises within that nothingness due to the observer’s own accelerated motion and encodes qubits of information. The observer’s accelerated motion is not really within the space-time geometry of its own holographic world, which only appears to exist as a holographic projection of images from its own holographic screen to its own central point of view as its holographic world appears to come into existence. The observer’s accelerated motion is relative to that nothingness, which is motionless. Both the observer and its holographic world arise from and within that all-pervading nothingness. The mystery to be unraveled is the true nature of that nothingness.
8) The Problem of Time in a Holographic World
The whole concept of unitary time evolution in de Sitter space is invalid because there is no uniquely defined time-like killing vector in de Sitter space that allows for it. The basic problem is the de Sitter cosmic horizon is observer-dependent. The observer is literally at the central point of view of the accelerated expansion of space that gives rise to the observer’s own cosmic horizon. Instead of unitary time evolution, we can only consider the observer’s own proper-time as the observer follows a world-line through de Sitter space. The observer’s own proper-time is the only valid definition of time in de Sitter space. If the observer follows an accelerated world-line through de Sitter space, with the observer moving with an acceleration, a, along that world-line, then the observer perceives an Unruh temperature of kT=ħc√(1/R2+a2/c4)/2π, where the radius of the de Sitter cosmic horizon is given in terms of the cosmological constant as R2=3/Λ. The accelerating observer perceives an observer-dependent Unruh temperature of de Sitter space, just as the observer’s own de Sitter cosmic horizon is observer-dependent.
Even in Minkowski space, it’s not clear that all observers will agree upon the same definition of time since each observer has its own proper-time that can differ from the proper-time of another observer due to the effect of time dilation. What makes Minkowski space a special case is that different observers can only move relative to each other with constant velocity motion. The Lorentz group demonstrates that Minkowski space is characterized by time translation invariance which underlies the conservation of energy. Only time translation invariance allows different observers to agree upon the same definition of time in gravity-free Minkowski space.
This is generally not the case for a dynamically curved space-time geometry with gravity, in which there is no notion of time translation invariance, which is to say there is no notion of the conservation of energy. How can that be the case? The principle of equivalence tells us that the perceived effect of gravity is equivalent to the observer’s own accelerated motion, and if different observers accelerate in different ways, they observe different effects of gravity. When different observers observe different gravitational forces, the notion of time translation invariance and the conservation of energy breaks down. An accelerating observer is creating its own gravitational energy due to its own accelerated motion, which can be different from the accelerated motion of a different observer. When different observers accelerate in different ways, in effect they create their own dynamically curved space-time geometries with gravity that differ from each other, and in general there is no notion of time translation invariance or the conservation of energy in these differing space-time geometries since the perceived gravitational forces are different.
At this point, there may be the objection that the energy of the observer’s accelerated motion has to come from some source of energy, and if we add all these energies together, we restore the conservation of energy. The problem is that this is not what the holographic principle is telling us about the ultimate source of all energy. In effect, every observer is creating its own holographic world due to its own accelerated motion, which gives rise to its event horizon that acts as its holographic screen when qubits of information are encoded on its horizon. Everything the observer can observe in its own holographic world is a form of information that can be reduced to qubits of information encoded on its own holographic screen, and the energy that characterizes that holographic world arises from the observer’s own accelerated motion. The observer itself can only be understood as the central point of view of that holographic world. Different observers can only share a consensual reality to the degree their respective holographic screens overlap like a Venn diagram and share information. If different observers are free to accelerate in their own unique way, then in general there is no specific relationship between the energy that characterizes one observer’s holographic world with another observer’s world. Each observer is energizing its own holographic world in its own unique way due to its own accelerated motion. The mystery to be unraveled is the source of the energy that underlies the observer’s own accelerated motion. As we’ll come to understand, the observer’s accelerated motion is relative to a motionless void, and the void is the only possible source of that energy of motion. The mystery to be unraveled is the nature of that motionless void of nothingness that is not only the source of the energy inherent in the observer’s own accelerated motion, but also the source of the observer itself.
The holographic principle fundamentally reformulates quantum theory in an observer-centric and observer-dependent way since it tells us that the observer is at the central point of view of its own holographic world and that the appearance of its holographic world is dependent on its own accelerated motion. The appearance of its holographic world is understood in terms of images displayed on its holographic screen that arises as an event horizon due to its accelerated motion. The images of its own holographic world that are perceived by the observer can always be reduced to qubits of information encoded on its own holographic screen. This way of understanding quantum theory is a radical transformation of our understanding of the physical reality of the observable world that we perceive. If we really want to get our understanding of the observable world correct, we first have to get our understanding of the observer of that world correct. We have to begin with a correct understanding of the observer. The existence of the observer must come first since the observable world the observer perceives can only appear to come into existence when the observer enters into an accelerated frame of reference.
If unitary time evolution is not a valid concept for a holographic world constructed in de Sitter space, then what exactly is our perception of time? The only experience of time that anyone can ever have of time is one’s own experience of one’s own proper-time, which is always experienced now, in the present moment. Everything anyone can perceive is perceived now, in the present moment. When anyone remembers the past or anticipates the future, those perceptions of past and future are only an emotional projection from the present moment to an imagined past or an imagined future, which are always perceived now, in the present moment. One also perceives the emotional energy that connects the present moment to the next moment or to the prior moment. It’s only one’s perception of that flow of emotional energy that connects the imagined past and future to the present moment and makes one falsely believe that an imagined past or future really exists. In reality, the imagined past and future are no more real than the projected and animated images of a holographic world. The only thing that really exists is what is in the present moment, which includes oneself as a presence of perceiving consciousness at the central point of view of one’s own holographic world, which one always perceives now, in the present moment. In the sense of potentiality, as in the sum over all possible paths of quantum theory, the present moment is a decision point about which path one will follow through one’s own holographic world. In the sense of the emotional animation of one’s own body, one always has a choice to make about which path one will follow through one’s own holographic world, and only the expression of that emotional energy connects the present moment to the remembered past or anticipated future.
The holographic world one perceives only appears to come into existence because of one’s own accelerated motion that gives rise to one’s own event horizon that acts as one’s holographic screen that projects all the images of one’s holographic world from one’s own holographic screen to one’s own point of view at the center of that holographic world. That holographic world only appears to come into existence because one’s own holographic screen arises as an event horizon as one follows an accelerated world-line. The only experience of time that one can ever have as one follows that accelerated world-line is one’s own proper-time, and everything one can perceive in that holographic world is perceived now, in the present moment. Even the animating energy that animates all the projected images of one’s holographic world arises from the energy of one’s own accelerated motion as one follows an accelerated world-line. In reality, it all has to begin with one’s own existence as a presence of consciousness. In reality, one is that presence of perceiving consciousness at the central point of view of one’s own holographic world.
In reality, there is no objective physical reality of the world out there, only a holographic world that appears to come into existence whenever the observer enters into an accelerated frame of reference and its event horizon arises that acts as its holographic screen when its horizon encodes qubits of information. Instead of an objective physical reality of the world that the observer can perceive, there is only a subject-object relation of perception that arises as the observer perceives objects of perception in its own holographic world. Those objects of perception are all forms of information that can be reduced to qubits of information encoded on its own holographic screen.
In reality, the observer’s holographic world is no more real than the projected and animated images of a computer-generated virtual reality. The observer itself creates the quantum computer that gives rise to the appearance of its own holographic virtual reality with its own accelerated motion. The quantum computer is created due to the observer’s own accelerated motion that gives rise to its event horizon that acts as its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information. In reality, that holographic world only appears to exist in the eye of the beholder.
9) The Observer and its Holographic World
Every observer perceives its own holographic world in terms of the projected images of that world. We only share a consensual reality to the degree that overlapping holographic screens share information. The observer itself can only be understood as a point of view that arises at the center of its own holographic world. The observer is nothing more than that central point of view. Everything the observer can perceive is like a holographic image projected from its holographic screen to its point of view. The observer’s holographic world only appears to come into existence because of its own accelerated motion that gives rise to its event horizon that acts as its holographic screen when its horizon encodes qubits of information. Just as the observer is nothing more than the central point of view of its own holographic world, the observer’s event horizon is also arising in nothingness. There is nothing outside the observer’s event horizon and there is nothing inside its event horizon. There only appears to be something inside the observer’s event horizon because its horizon encodes qubits of information that give rise to the appearance of its holographic world as holographic images are projected from its own holographic screen to its central point of view and are animated in the flow of energy that arises from its own accelerated motion. It all has to begin with the observer in its accelerated frame of reference.
The big question is where does the observer come from? This is the same question as to ask where does the energy inherent in the observer’s accelerated frame of reference come from? The big clue we have is to ask: What happens to the observer when its accelerated motion comes to an end? In relativity theory, the end of that accelerated motion is called a freely falling frame of reference. In an ultimate freely falling frame of reference, when all acceleration comes to an end, the observer no longer has an event horizon, and no longer has a holographic screen that displays images of the observer’s own holographic world. In an ultimate freely falling frame of reference, the observer’s own holographic world disappears from existence from its own point of view.
What happens to the observer? The answer is the observer returns to the nothingness from whence it came. That return to nothingness is described as a dissolution, like a drop of water that dissolves back into the ocean. If we think of the observer as a point of perceiving consciousness at the central point of view of its own holographic world, the nothingness from whence it came and to which it must return is like an undivided ocean of pure undifferentiated consciousness. That ocean is called the void, which can only be understood in terms of negation as absolute nothingness. The basic problem is that the void is not perceivable. The void is what gives rise to the experience of perception. The void as an ocean of pure undifferentiated consciousness is what gives rise to the observer as a presence of perceiving consciousness at the center of its own holographic world. The void is the source of the observer’s perceiving consciousness.
The perceiving consciousness of the observer must divide and separate itself from its source of pure undifferentiated consciousness in order to perceive its own holographic world, which it perceives from the central point of view of that world. In the process of perceiving its own holographic world, the observer must also enter into an accelerated frame of reference. The energy of that acceleration also arises from the void, as in the accelerated expansion of space. The void in-and-of itself is motionless, and the accelerated motion of the observer always arises relative to the motionless void. That accelerated motion is how the observer’s event horizon arises within the void. When that acceleration comes to an end in an ultimate freely falling frame of reference, the observer’s holographic world disappears from existence from its own point of view and the observer itself must return to and dissolve back into the void from whence it came.
The basic problem with understanding the nature of the void is the problem of perception. Perception always occurs in a subject-object relation. The true nature of the subject is the observer itself, and the nature of all the objects of perception the observer can perceive are forms of information encoded on the observer’s own holographic screen. Those objects of perception are projected like images from the observer’s own holographic screen to its point of view at the center of its own holographic world and are animated in the flow of energy that arises from its own accelerated motion. The void cannot be understood as another object of perception. The void in-and-of itself is not perceivable. The void cannot even be understood as the perceiver. The void is the source of perception in that the void gives rise to the observer as the perceiving consciousness present at the central point of view of its own holographic world and also gives rise to the energy that underlies the observer’s accelerated motion relative to the motionless void.
Perception always occurs in a subject-object relation. The observer itself is the subject and whatever the observer perceives in its own holographic world is its object of perception. Those objects are projected forms of information animated in the flow of energy. The observer is able to perceive both the form of things and flow of things. All perceivable forms can be reduced to qubits of information encoded on the observer’s own holographic screen. Those forms are projected like images from the observer’s own holographic screen to its own point of view at the center of its own holographic world and are animated in the flow of energy that animates that world. The observer’s projecting holographic screen arises as an event horizon in its accelerated frame of reference and the animating energy arises from the observer’s own accelerated motion.
A critically important point is the observer always perceives things now, in the present moment. Whatever events the observer perceives in its own holographic world are like projected and animated images of that holographic world, which the observer perceives now, in the present moment. How do we explain the perception of the memory of past events and the anticipation of future events? The answer is emotional projection, which is always projected from the present moment. Emotional projection is like imagining where a particle has been in the past or where it will be in the future if we know where the particle is now and its motion now. If we know the position of the particle now and its motion now, we can imagine where the particle has been in the past or where it will be in the future as the particle follows the path of its trajectory.
In the same way, if we know the form of things now and the flow of energy that animates those forms now, we can make a projection to how those forms appeared in the past or how those forms will appear in the future. When we remember the past or anticipate the future, we are able to make an emotional projection from the present moment because we know how things appear now and how things are animated now. We are able to imagine how things appeared in the past or how they will appear in the future because we know the form of things now and how the flow of emotional energy is animating those forms now. We need to know both the form of things now and the flow of energy that animates things now to make this emotional projection to an imagined past or an imagined future. That emotional projection of memory and anticipation can only arise in our imagination, which is an emotional projection from the present moment. Since everything we perceive in our own holographic world is imaginary in the sense of the projected and animated images of a holographic world, the imagined past and the imagined future are really nothing more than an emotional projection that arises within a holographic projection.
The present moment is always a decision point about which path to follow. We make those decisions as we focus our attention and express our emotions in our own unique way. That emotional expression is what allows us to remember the past and anticipate the future through an emotional projection from the present moment into an imagined past and imagined future.
The nature of memory as an emotional projection also helps explain another peculiar aspect of living in a holographic world, which is the nature of emotional or personal self-identification. Perception always occurs in a subject-object relation. The true nature of the subject is the observer, which is the perceiving consciousness present at the central point of view of its own holographic world, while all the observer’s objects of perception are forms of information that appear in its holographic world. The observer perceives both the forms of things, which are projected like images from its own holographic screen to its point of view at the center of its own holographic world, and also the flow of energy that animates those forms. Just as the observer’s holographic screen arises as an event horizon due to its own acceleration, the animating flow of energy also arises from the observer’s own accelerated motion. That accelerated motion gives rise to the expression of emotional energy that animates the form of the observer’s own body. The observer’s body is just a form of information that appears in its holographic world, but its body is animated by the flow of emotional energy that arises from the observer’s own accelerated motion. The expression of the emotional energy that animates the form of its body relative to the form of other things that appear in its holographic world is what makes the observer emotionally identify itself with the form of its body, which is called personal self-identification.
As the observer perceives the flow of emotional energy that emotionally animates the form of its body relative to the form of all other things that appear in its holographic world, the observer feels emotionally self-limited to that personal form, which makes the observer emotionally identify itself with that personal form. When the observer emotionally identifies itself with its body and takes itself to be its body, it is as though its body is the subject in the subject-object relation of perception. The observer’s body is taken to be the perceiving subject, and all other objects that appear in the observer’s holographic world are perceived as objects of perception.
In reality, the observer itself is the subject, and its body is just another object of perception that appears in its holographic world among all the other objects of perception, but when the observer emotionally identifies itself with its body and takes itself to be its body, it is as though its body is the perceiving subject and everything else that appears in its holographic world is an object of perception. The only thing that makes the observer’s body different from all other forms is that its body is the central form and is always emotionally animated relative to the other forms, which creates feelings of self-limitation and leads the observer to identify itself with its body. This strange state of affairs is called personal self-identification, which gives rise to the observer’s experience of self and other. The observer’s experience of self and other within its holographic world is only possible because the observer emotionally identifies itself with the emotionally animated form of its body that appears as the central form within its own holographic world.
This explanation for personal self-identification is not new. The basic idea for this explanation was given in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s by a group of psychoanalysts, who called the explanation object relations theory. In the 1990’s, the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio gave a similar explanation based on the findings of neuroscience. The linguist Noam Chomsky understands the nature of language in a similar way. The basic idea is that perception always occurs in a subject-object relation, where the true nature of the subject is the observer and the object of perception is whatever the observer observes. When the observer emotionally identifies itself with its body, it is as though its body is the perceiving subject. The observer’s body is always emotionally related to all other objects that appear in its world. The observer’s perception of the emotional energy that animates the form of its body is what makes the observer feel emotionally self-limited to that personal form and emotionally identify itself with its body. Personal self-identification only happens as the observer perceives the flow of emotional energy that animates its body in relation to the form of all other things that appear in its world, which leads the observer to emotionally identify itself with the form of its body.
When we focus the attention of our consciousness on appearing to live an embodied life in the world we perceive, we energize that embodied life with the expression of our emotions. We have the freedom to focus our attention in our own unique way, which leads to the expression of our emotions in our own unique way, which we call free will. The problem is that we are under the sway of Darwinian evolution and natural selection in the sense of the survival of the fittest body. We are under the sway of the pleasure-pain principle. When we express fear and desire, we are pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. Whatever we do that promotes body survival as a desire is satisfied feels good, and rewards us for defending the survival of the body, while whatever we do that threatens body survival as a fear is manifested feels bad and punishes us for not defending the survival of the body. Our free will has become hijacked by Darwinian evolution to force us to focus the attention of our consciousness only on defending body survival as we express fear and desire in the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain, which creates feelings of emotional self-limitation to the body and leads us to emotionally identify ourselves with the body.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, nothing is good or bad except thinking makes it so. Inherent in every thought is an emotion. All emotional expressions are body survival emotions that defend the survival of the body. When we express fear and desire, our bodies are moving toward those things that promote body survival or moving away from those things that threaten body survival. Even emotional attachments are body survival emotions, since the immature body of a child cannot fend for its own survival and must emotionally attach itself to the body of its caregiver in order to survive. Nature has designed the expression of our emotions along the lines of the pleasure-pain principle. Whatever promotes body survival feels good and whatever threatens body survival feels bad. In the sense of Darwinian evolution and the survival of the fittest body, natural selection has selected those emotions that best defend the survival of the body. When we judge things to be good or bad, in essence we are only judging things in terms of the survival of our own body. When we construct a personal self-concept, we are conceptualizing ourselves in terms of our own body, and that self-conceptualization is emotional in nature, which inherently is all about defending the survival of our own body. That’s how we judge things to be good or bad, which leads to feelings of emotional self-limitation to the body and personal self-identification.
Once we emotionally identify ourselves with the emotionally animated form of the body, we’re screwed. We feel compelled to continue to express fear and desire in the defense of body survival as though our existence depends on it. In reality, our existence does not depend on body survival, but the only way we can become aware of this fact of existence is if we become enlightened.
The only thing lacking in this explanation for personal self-identification is an understanding of the true nature of the observer. The holographic principle tells us the observer can be nothing more than the perceiving consciousness that arises at the central point of view of its own holographic world. That holographic world can only appear to come into existence when the observer enters into an accelerated frame of reference and the observer’s event horizon arises that acts as its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information. Even the flow of emotional energy that animates the observer’s body arises from its own accelerated motion.
The observer is nothing more than a point of perceiving consciousness that arises at the center of its own holographic world, and all the images of its holographic world are displayed on its own holographic screen that arises in a void of nothingness. The observer’s holographic screen is the boundary of its own holographic world. That boundary is an event horizon that arises due to the observer’s own accelerated motion, which limits its observations of things in space and becomes its holographic screen when information is encoded. That holographic world only appears to come into existence due to the observer’s accelerated motion. In reality, there is nothing inside that holographic world and nothing outside that holographic world. There only appears to be something inside the observer’s holographic world due to the holographic projection of images from its own holographic screen to its point of view at the center of that holographic world.
Where does the observer come from? The observer comes from the same nothingness that gives rise to the energy of its accelerated motion. The observer comes from the same nothingness within which the boundary of its own event horizon arises due to that accelerated motion. The observer comes from the same nothingness within which its own holographic world appears to exist. The observer comes from that nothingness, and must ultimately return to that nothingness.
In some mysterious way, the perceiving consciousness of the observer, present at the central point of view of its own holographic world, is able to separate and divide itself from its source of pure undifferentiated consciousness, which is the void of nothingness that its holographic world is created within. That holographic world only appears to come into existence because of the observer’s own accelerated motion relative to the motionless void, which is how its event horizon arises in that nothingness that acts as the observer’s holographic screen. When that acceleration comes to an end in an ultimate state of free fall, the observer’s holographic world disappears from existence from its own point of view, and the individual consciousness of the observer must return to and dissolve back into the void of undifferentiated consciousness from whence it came.
10) The Problem of the Foundations of Physics
At the foundational level, there must be a source of the observer’s own consciousness and a source of the energy that places the observer in an accelerated frame of reference. Since everything the observer can perceive is observed in a subject-object relation of perception, the Source, in-and-of-itself, is not perceivable. The Source cannot be an object of perception. The Source cannot even be the perceiver. The Source is what gives rise to the experience of perception as the Source gives rise to the perceiving consciousness of the observer at the central point of view of its own holographic world and also gives rise to the energy that places the observer in an accelerated frame of reference that creates and animates that holographic world.
The Source is the source of the perceiving consciousness of the observer, present at the central point of view of its own holographic world. The Source is also the source of the energy that places the observer in an accelerated frame of reference that gives rise to the observer’s event horizon that acts as its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information, which is the same energy that animates everything in the observer’s holographic world. The Source cannot be described at the level of the laws of nature because the laws of physics only apply at the level of that holographic world. The laws of physics are like the computational rules that govern the operation of a quantum computer that gives rise to the appearance of the observer’s computer-generated virtual reality, which the observer itself creates as it enters into its accelerated frame of reference. The observer and its holographic world always arise together in a subject-object relation of perception, but the Source is beyond that holographic virtual reality.
The Source can only be described in terms of negation as absolute nothingness, which can be understood as a void of undifferentiated consciousness. In some mysterious way, the void divides itself up into the perceiving consciousness of all the observers, each present at the central point of view of its own holographic world. Different observers can only share a consensual reality to the degree their holographic screens overlap and share information. The Source also gives rise to the expression of energy that places each observer in an accelerated frame of reference. This energy can be understood as the expression of dark energy that gives rise to the accelerated expansion of space that expands relative to each observer’s central point of view and gives rise to its cosmic horizon that acts as its holographic screen when qubits of information are encoded. This mechanism explains how each observer’s holographic world appears to come into existence.
There is no way to scientifically explain how or why the Source gives rise to this expression of dark energy, just as there is no way to scientifically explain how or why the Source divides itself up into the perceiving consciousness of each observer, present at the central point of view of its own holographic world. We can only describe this creative process as a spontaneous expression of creativity that arises from the Source, or as the potentiality of the Source to express itself in this creative way. We can only call this expression of creativity by the Source God’s will.
This expression of creativity by the Source is described in the first few lines of Genesis:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
And the earth was without form and void
And darkness was upon the face of the deep
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
And God said ‘Let there be light’; and there was light
And God saw the light, that it was good
And God divided the light from the darkness
The Source is referred to as the void, the formless, the darkness and the deep, or as the waters, which refers to the Source as an undivided ocean of pure undifferentiated consciousness. For lack of a better word, we can call the Source God. The Spirit of God refers to the observer at the center of its own holographic world. The face of the deep refers to the observer’s holographic screen that arises as an event horizon in the void due to the observer’s own accelerated motion relative to the motionless void. The Spirit of God must move over the face of the deep for that holographic world to appear to come into existence. The light refers to the light of consciousness that illuminates the observer’s own holographic world. That light of consciousness must be divided from the darkness of the void for the observer’s world to appear to come into existence.
This expression of creativity by the Source is symbolized by the All-Seeing-Eye of Providence:
The triangle represents the hierarchy of consciousness, with the undifferentiated consciousness of the Source at the apex or highest possible level of consciousness. Only the highest possible level of consciousness is free of the illusion of duality, which is to say, free from the bondage of false personal self-identification. The central eye represents the individual consciousness of the observer at the central point of view of its own holographic world, which is subject to the illusion of duality through its false self-identification with the form of a person that appears in that world. The rays emanating from the central eye represent the light of consciousness that illuminates the observer’s own holographic world, and the encompassing circle represents the boundary of that holographic world, which is the observer’s holographic screen that arises as an event horizon due to the observer’s own accelerated motion relative to the motionless void.
The light of consciousness is like the light of a movie projector that illuminates all the projected images of the movie. The accelerated motion of the observer is the nature of the animating energy that animates those projected images, and also gives rise to the movie screen as the observer’s own event horizon that becomes its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information. The images of the movie are forms of information that are projected from the screen to the observer’s own point of view. Just as the energy of the observer’s own motion allows for the animation of those images, the light of consciousness allows for the projection of those images.
The qualia problem demonstrates consciousness cannot have a scientific explanation, but must be spiritual in nature, which is beyond any scientific explanation. Perception always occurs in a subject-object relation, where the true nature of the subject is consciousness itself. All objects of perception are forms of information animated in the flow of energy, and as such, have a scientific explanation that is inherently mathematical in nature. The problem is, we don’t perceive things in terms of mathematical quantities, like the wavelength of a light wave. We perceive things in terms of qualities, like the color red. The nature of our perception is not so much an aspect of the mathematical quantities that characterize all the objects of our perception, but of the spiritual nature of our consciousness, which has no mathematically based scientific explanation. The forms we perceive are illuminated by the light of consciousness, which is spiritual in nature.
There is a reason the first few lines of Genesis are so revered and the Eye of Providence is such a powerful symbol. The first few lines of Genesis and the symbolism of the Eye of Providence are referring to the Source, which is not only the Source of the observer’s own world and the Source of the laws of physics that govern events in that holographic world, but also the Source of the observer’s own individual consciousness. The observer’s individual consciousness is divided from the Source when the observer’s holographic world appears to come into existence, which can only happen due to the observer’s accelerated motion. When that accelerated motion comes to an end in an ultimate state of free fall, the observer’s individual consciousness must return to the undivided consciousness of its Source. That return is described as a dissolution, like a drop of water that dissolves into the ocean. The observer’s return to the Source is called spiritual enlightenment, which is the only way the observer can become free from the illusion of duality.
The nature of the illusion of duality is the experience of self and other that an observer can only experience in its own holographic world. The observer only has an experience of self and other when the observer emotionally identifies itself with the emotionally animated form of a person that appears in that holographic world due to the observer’s perception of emotional feelings of self-limitation to that personal form. That personal form appears as the central form of the observer’s body in its own holographic world. As that personal form is emotionally animated relative to all other forms that appear in its holographic world, the observer has the experience of self and other. This experience of self and other only becomes possible when the observer emotionally identifies itself with the form of its body, which is the central form that appears in its holographic world. When that personal self-identification comes to an end, the observer’s experience of self and other also comes to an end, and the illusion of duality comes to an end.
The observer lives in a state of emotional bondage due to its emotional self-identification with the emotionally animated form of a person that appears in the holographic world it perceives. The observer falsely identifies itself with the central form of a person that appears in its own world due to its perception of emotional feelings of self-limitation to that personal form. When the observer returns to the Source and discovers the truth of its own existence as pure undivided, unlimited and formless consciousness, it becomes free from this state of emotional bondage. Only consciousness itself has real being, the sense of I-Am-ness, the sense of being present. Even that sense of I-Am-ness is not the ultimate state of existence that can only be described as pure undivided, unlimited, timeless being. The forms that appear in a holographic virtual reality are unreal, no more real than projected and animated images of a holographic world, and have no being. In the words of the Bhagavad Gita: The unreal has no being; the real never ceases to be.
In reality, there is no objective physical reality of the world out there, only a holographic world that appears to come into existence whenever the observer enters into an accelerated frame of reference and its event horizon arises that acts as its holographic screen when the horizon encodes qubits of information. That holographic world is no more real than the projected and animated images of a computer-generated virtual reality. The observer itself creates the quantum computer with its accelerated motion that gives rise to the appearance of its holographic virtual reality. To paraphrase the Matrix: There is no world. It is not the world that moves, but only yourself.
Do not try to bend the spoon. That is impossible. Only try to realize the truth. What truth? There is no spoon. Then you’ll see it is not the spoon that bends but only yourself-The Matrix
In the words of Nisargadatta Maharaj:
To be born means to create a world around yourself as the center. You are that point of consciousness. By your movement the world is ever created. Stop moving and there will be no world.
11) On the Nature of Spirituality and Spiritual Enlightenment
All the self-inflicted problems of human society can be traced back to the loss of spirituality. Even our religions have lost their spirituality. The problem with the loss of spirituality is the problem of ego and personal self-identification. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin stated, We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. At the level of our own individual spiritual being, we are a presence of consciousness, which can scientifically be understood as the observer at the central point of view of its own holographic world that is very much like a computer-generated virtual reality. The experience of time is only possible with the energetic or emotional animation of that holographic virtual reality. In reality, our spiritual being has timeless being. There is only an illusion that we exist in time because we are emotionally identifying ourselves with our own emotionally animated character that appears in the holographic world we perceive, which is our avatar in the virtual reality. Our character in the holographic virtual reality takes the form of our own emotionally animated body.
How can the spiritual being of our consciousness have timeless being? Plato gave the answer over two thousand years ago in the Allegory of the Cave. The experience of time is only possible with the animation of a holographic virtual reality. That animation is inherently energetic in nature, which at the level of the body is experienced as the emotional animation of the body. The presence of consciousness that perceives the animation from the central point of view of that holographic world has timeless being. Consciousness timelessly exists no matter what appears to happen in the animation. There can only be an illusion that consciousness exists in time when consciousness emotionally identifies itself with the emotionally animated embodied form of its character that appears in the animation of the holographic virtual reality that it is perceiving.
Emotional self-identification is a problem due to the nature of emotional self-defensiveness. When consciousness emotionally identifies itself with the emotionally animated form of its character that appears in the animation of the holographic world it perceives, consciousness feels compelled to defend the survival of its body as though its existence depends on it. Emotional expressions of self-defensiveness are at the root of all the self-inflicted problems of human society. When carried to an extreme degree, consciousness feels compelled to defend the survival of its own body at the expense of everybody and everything else that appears in its own world.
Most people live in a state of the denial of death. They just don’t want to think about their own looming death, which in reality is a fact of existence that cannot ultimately be denied. People deny death by distracting themselves, by trying to build a monument to their own immortality, or by trying to control things and have power over others, but at the end of the day, death is a fact of existence that cannot be denied. Death is the most important fact of existence.
When death can no longer be denied, people become self-defensive. They feel compelled to defend the survival of their own body as though their existence depends on it. When this self-defensive tendency is carried to an extreme degree, they see everybody and everything else in the world as a threat to their own survival. This is when self-defensiveness is carried out to the point of absurdity. People feel the need to destroy all possible threats to their own body survival, even if that requires them to destroy everything in their own world except for their own body.
The problem of emotional self-defensiveness is a result of consciousness emotionally identifying itself with the emotionally animated form of its own body due to its perception of emotional feelings of self-limitation to that emotionally animated personal form. The body will ultimately die due to the disorganization of that emotionally animated form. Disorganization of form is an inevitable result of living in a holographic world due to the relentless increase in entropy or disorder that occurs as heat flows in a thermal gradient. The body can only appear to survive in a coherently organized self-replicating form due to the addition of potential energy to that form that counterbalances the natural increase in entropy. The addition of potential energy to the body allows useful work to be performed that maintains the integrity of body structures. That use of energy is the only way the body can hold together as a coherently organized self-replicating form. Eventually, the relentless increase in entropy wins out over potential energy and the form of the body becomes disorganized. We call that disorganization of form the death of the body.
Body death is only a problem if consciousness emotionally identifies itself with the emotionally animated form of its body. The body is only an emotionally animated self-replicating form that appears in the animation of the holographic virtual reality that consciousness perceives from the central point of view of that holographic world. In reality, consciousness has timeless spiritual being, and its existence is never threatened by whatever appears to happen in the holographic world that it perceives. Body death is just another event that appears to happen in that world.
When consciousness comes to understand and accept the true nature of its timeless spiritual being, then body death is no longer a problem and self-defensiveness serves no useful purpose. This is the critical role that spirituality plays in our lives. We have to come to understand and accept that the true nature of our existence is as a timeless spiritual being, which is a presence of consciousness at the central point of view of the world we perceive, and not as the emotionally animated form of a body that only appears to exist in that world.
Ultimately, we come to understand that our timeless spiritual being is not an individual being, but the undivided being of our Source. We come to understand this through the experience of spiritual enlightenment. Our individual spiritual being, which we experience as a presence of individual consciousness, ultimately returns to its Source of pure undivided being. Individual consciousness ultimately returns to and dissolves back into its Source of pure undifferentiated consciousness, like a drop of water that dissolves back into the ocean. This can only happen in an ultimate state of free fall when our own holographic world is no longer animated and disappears from existence from our own point of view. The end of that animation, which is the end of time, can only happen when our own accelerated motion comes to an end. Only in an ultimate state of free fall, when our own accelerated motion comes to end and we no longer have an event horizon that acts as our holographic screen, can time come to end as our holographic world is no longer animated and disappears. That’s when we discover the true nature of our timeless spiritual being.
Spiritual enlightenment is only about discovering the true nature of our existence. At the level of being an observer of our own world, which is the level of individual existence, we can only know ourselves to be a presence of consciousness at the central point of view of that world. The only true thing we can ever know about ourselves at the level of being an observer is our own sense of being present as we perceive that world, which is the sense of I-Am-ness. That’s where we have to focus our attention if we really want to awaken to the truth of what we really are.
We have to begin the awakening process by shifting the focus of our attention away from the world we perceive and refocusing our attention on our own sense of beingness. We do this because we see that the world we perceive is an illusion, like a virtual reality game that we’re playing on a computer screen, and we see our character in that virtual reality world is an illusion of what we really are. When we withdraw our attention away from the world we perceive, we also withdraw our investment of emotional energy in that world that emotionally animates our character in that world. We do that because we see the whole thing is an illusion, and we lose interest in paying attention to an illusion. That’s how we stop animating the illusion.
Ultimately, at the level of being a moving point of consciousness at the center of the world we perceive, when we withdraw all emotional energy away from that world, we stop moving. We not only stop emotionally animating our character, but ultimately, we stop animating the world that our character appears to live within. When we completely withdraw our attention away from that world, our accelerated motion relative to the motionless void comes to an end. We enter into an ultimate state of free fall, and the holographic world we perceive disappears from existence from our own point of view. If we remain aware of our own beingness while we fall into the void, our individual being dissolves back in the undivided being of the void, and we become aware of the true nature of our existence as that pure undivided, unlimited and timeless being.
Spiritual enlightenment is described as a return to the Source. It is the individual consciousness of the observer that is returning to its Source of pure undivided consciousness. The Source is not only the source of all the information and energy that characterize the observer’s own world and the source of the laws of physics that govern events in that world, but also the source of the observer’s own individual consciousness. The observer’s individual consciousness is divided from the Source when the observer’s holographic world appears to come into existence, which can only happen due to the observer’s accelerated motion. When that accelerated motion comes to an end in an ultimate state of free fall, the observer’s individual consciousness must return to the undivided consciousness of its Source. That return is described as a dissolution, like a drop of water that dissolves into the ocean. The observer’s return to the Source is the nature of spiritual enlightenment, which is the only way the observer can become free from the illusion of duality.
Spiritual enlightenment is a timeless state of being. The experience of time only applies at the level of the observer perceiving the animation of its own holographic world as the images of that world are projected from its holographic screen to its point of view at the center of that world and are animated in the flow of energy through that world. The animation of the observer’s holographic world only arises from its own accelerated motion relative to the motionless void, which is how its event horizon arises that acts as its holographic screen. The observer’s own accelerated motion is the nature of the energy that animates its own holographic world.
When its accelerated motion comes to an end, the observer’s experience of time also comes to an end. When its accelerated motion comes to an end, the observer no longer has an event horizon that acts as its holographic screen, its observations in space become unlimited, but it perceives nothing as its holographic world disappears from existence. When its accelerated motion comes to an end, the observer’s individual consciousness, present at the central point of view of its own holographic world, dissolves back into its source of pure undivided consciousness, like a drop of water that dissolves back into the ocean. Individual being dissolves back into undivided being. This is exactly how enlightened beings describe the experience of spiritual enlightenment.
When one becomes spiritually enlightened, one no longer has the perspective of the individual consciousness of the observer at the central point of view of one’s own holographic world, but one’s perspective ascends to the highest possible level of consciousness, which is the ascended perspective of the undifferentiated consciousness of the void. This highest possible level of consciousness is described in the Bhagavad Gita:
In the knowledge of the Atman, which is a dark night to the ignorant,
The recollected mind is fully awake and aware.
The ignorant are awake in their sense life, which is darkness to the sage
In the language of Advaita Vedanta, Atman refers to the presence of individual consciousness at the center of its own holographic world, which one becomes aware of from the ascended perspective of Brahman when one becomes enlightened. Brahman refers to the undifferentiated consciousness of the void. This ascended perspective is also described in the Tao Te Ching:
In the silence and the void
Standing alone and unchanging
Ever present and in motion
I do not know its name
Call it Tao
Tao refers to the Atman, which is the presence of individual consciousness of the observer at the central point of view of its own holographic world that is in a state of perpetual motion relative to the motionless void. The silence and the void refers to the ascended perspective of Brahman.
The Tao Te Ching describes that this ascended perspective only becomes possible when one becomes desireless, which is the ultimate state of becoming motionless. As long as one continues to express desires through one’s own continued motion relative to the motionless void, one will perceive the manifestations of one’s own holographic world. Only when one becomes desireless and motionless can one see the mystery of one’s own individual consciousness from the ascended perspective of the darkness and the deepness of the undivided Source of consciousness:
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations
These two spring from the same source
This appears as darkness
Darkness within darkness
The gate to all mystery
The Tao Te Ching describes the path of return:
Tao in the world is like a river flowing home to the sea
Returning is the motion of the Tao
It returns to nothingness
It leads all things back to the great oneness
Mu-mon describes the gateless gate paradox:
The great path has no gates
Thousands of roads enter it
When one passes through this gateless gate
One walks the universe alone
Passing through the gateless gate can only happen when one becomes motionless in an ultimate state of free fall. Enlightened beings describe this experience as falling into the void and the dissolution of their own individual consciousness into the undifferentiated consciousness of the void, like a drop of water that dissolves back into the ocean. After this dissolution experience, when one again perceives one’s own holographic world, one knows that one is all-one. One is truly alone in one’s own world.
Chuang Tzu describes that the enlightened man remains unknown, has no-self, and is nobody. When one becomes enlightened, one no longer perceives things from the dualistic perspective of self and other, but from the ascended perspective of one undivided consciousness. Perfect virtue is the virtue of becoming desireless and motionless, which produces nothing:
The man of Tao remains unknown.
Perfect virtue produces nothing.
No-self is true self
And the greatest man is nobody
The Buddha succinctly stated the nature of spiritual enlightenment:
Truly, I have attained nothing from total enlightenment
Being at-one with the Tao is eternal because there is no place for death to enter:
Being at one with the Tao is eternal
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away
Because there is no place for death to enter
12) Conclusion
There is no scientific explanation for the Source of consciousness, just as there is no scientific explanation for the ultimate Source of energy and information. People who try to give scientific explanations for the source of these things are like computer scientists who try to explain the origin of a computer in terms of computer science. Computer science can never explain where the computer comes from. Computer science can explain how information is mathematically encoded inside a computer, how that information is mathematically processed as energy flows through the computer, and the computational rules that govern the operation of the computer in the encoding and processing of information, but computer science cannot explain the origin of the computer. There must be a source of the structures inside the computer that encode information and a source of the energy that flows through the computer that allows for the processing of information, which is beyond the scope of computer science. In a similar way, our scientific theories, even at the level of theoretical physics, can never explain the ultimate Source of the information encoded in the universe or the flow of energy animating the universe.
Similarly, our scientific theories can never explain the ultimate Source of our consciousness. In terms of the computer analogy, the computer has an output device called a computer screen that allows for the output of information, which can be observed and utilized by the user of the computer. The output device is a computer interface that displays forms of information on the computer screen. Those forms are projected like images from the screen to the point of view of the user, and are animated in the flow of energy. Computer science can never explain the Source of the consciousness of the user of the computer, nor even the nature of the light that illuminates and projects the images. In terms of this computer analogy, just as there must be an ultimate Source for the information encoded in the universe and the energy that animates the universe, there must be an ultimate Source for the consciousness that perceives the universe and for the light of consciousness that illuminates the universe. That ultimate Source, as the origin of all the information and energy that characterizes the universe and the consciousness that illuminates and perceives the universe, is forever beyond anything our scientific theories can tell us about the nature of the universe. Our scientific theories are forever stuck at the level of computer science.
This is exactly what the holographic principle demonstrates. A holographic world only appears to come into existence, like a computer-generated virtual reality, when a quantum computer is created. The creation of that quantum computer requires the accelerated motion of an observer that gives rise to the observer’s event horizon that becomes the observer’s holographic screen when the horizon encodes information. The holographic principle demonstrates there must be an ultimate Source for all the information and energy underlying the creation of that holographic world and for the consciousness that perceives and illuminates that world. Like a computer scientist, we can never give a scientific explanation for the ultimate Source of that information, energy and consciousness. We are only deceiving ourselves whenever we attempt to do so. We are not being good scientists when we attempt to give scientific explanations that are logically impossible to give. We are only creating logical contradictions and inconsistencies that arise from our false assumptions, circular reasoning and paradoxes of self-reference.
If we really want to know the true nature of that ultimate Source, which is the true nature of our own being and the ultimate nature of existence and reality, the pursuit of science is not the path. At best, scientific concepts are only useful to demonstrate the logical contradictions and inconsistencies of our concepts. One concept can be used to destroy another concept. The only path to the Source is to destroy all of our false concepts, including our own self-concept. Instead of knowing something, we have to become willing to know nothing. Instead of doing something, we have to become willing to do nothing. Instead of being something, we have to become willing to be nothing. The only true path to the Source is spiritual enlightenment, which is the path of return. Our individual consciousness and being must return to its Source of pure undivided consciousness and being. In that return, we have to bring ourselves to the point of nothingness.
One last word on the nature of God. The world we perceive is built upon three fundamental ingredients: information, energy and consciousness. Perception of the world always occurs in a subject-object relation as an observer perceives its objects of perception. In physics, we call the perceiver the observer and call the objects of perception the observables. Modern physics tells us the observables are constructed out of nothing more than information and energy. Spirituality tells us that the observer is nothing more than a point of consciousness. Spirituality also tells us that what we call God is the Source of all information, energy and consciousness. Take away all that information, energy and consciousness, and what remains? The answer is nothing. What we call God is that ultimate nothingness, which is the Source of everything, including our own individual consciousness. That absolute nothingness is only describable as a void of pure undifferentiated consciousness.
Scientific References
1) Tom Banks and Willy Fischler Why the Cosmological Constant is a Boundary Condition. arXiv:1811.00130 (2018)
2) Raphael Bousso The Holographic Principle. arXiv:hep-th/0203101 (2002)
3) Amanda Gefter Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn (Random House) (2014)
4) Amanda Gefter): Cosmic Solipsism. FQXi Essay (2012)
5) Brian Greene The Elegant Universe (Vintage Books) (2000)
6) Gerard ‘t Hooft The Holographic Principle. arXiv:hep-th/0003004 (2000)
7) Ted Jacobson Thermodynamics of Space-time. arXiv:gr-qc/9504004 (1995)
8) J Madore Non-commutative Geometry for Pedestrians. arXiv:gr-qc/9906059 (1999)
9) Juan Maldacena The Large N Limit of Superconformal Field Theories and Supergravity. arXiv:hep-th/9711200 (1997)
10) Juan Maldacena and Leonard Susskind Cool Horizons for Entangled Black Holes. arXiv:1306.0533 (2013)
11) Roger Penrose The Road to Reality (Alfred A Knopf) (2005)
12) Lee Smolin Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (Basic Books) (2001)
13) Leonard Susskind The Black Hole War (Little, Brown and Company) (2008)
14) Leonard Susskind The World as a Hologram. arXiv:hep-th/9409089 (1994)
15) A. Zee Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell (Princeton Univ Press) (2003)
16) Anton Zeilinger Experiment and the Foundations of Quantum Physics. Rev. Mod. Phys. 71, S288 (1999)
Additional References
1) The Bhagavad Gita, Edwin Arnold trans. (Harvard Classics) (1909)
2) Noam Chomsky on Curt Jaimungal’s podcast Theories of Everything (Apr 12, 2022)
3) Antonio Damasio The Feeling of What Happens (Harcourt Brace) (1999)
4) Antonio Damasio Descartes Error (G P Putnam) (1994)
5) N. Gregory Hamilton Self and Others (Jason Aronson) (1988)
6) Jed McKenna Jed McKenna’s Theory of Everything (Wisefool Press) (2013)
7) Nisargadatta Maharaj I Am That (Acorn Press) (1973)
8) Osho The Book of Secrets (St Martin’s Griffin) (1974)
9) Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (Tuttle Publishing) (1957)
10) Bernadette Roberts The Experience of No-Self (State Univ of New York Press) (1993)
11) Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now (New World Library) (1997)
12) Lao Tsu Tao Te Ching. Gia-Fu Feng trans. (Vintage Books) (1989)
