Quantum mechanics presents a probabilistic picture of reality; subatomic particles act as if they occupy many places at once, and their locations can be described only in terms of probabilities.
Noting that the rules governing the behavior of subatomic particles contravene common-sense notions of reality, Dr. d'Espagnat, a professor emeritus at the University of Paris-Sud, coined the term "veiled reality" to describe a world beyond appearances, which science can only glimpse and which he said could be compatible with "higher forms of spirituality".
Four physicists at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton – the former home of Albert Einstein – earned individual prizes, with three going to string theorists, who work on a model of reality that casts particles as vibrating strings of energy.
Thinking of the fundamental constituents of reality as unchanging particles is the fallacy of "substantialism," which Whitehead's panpsychist "process philosophy," attempts to correct.
It will create a zoo of new particles for those who study the fabric of reality to get to grips with.
And one possible explanation is that the particles are rooted in the deeper level of reality where distance has no meaning.
According to that weird theory, which, among other things, explains why our computers turn on every morning, there is an irreducible randomness at the microscopic heart of reality that leaves an elementary particle, an electron, say, in a sort of fog of being everywhere or anywhere, or being a wave or a particle, until some measurement fixes it in place.
Such a view would be unfortunate, as it might obscure what is considered today as the most plausible picture of reality, which not only unifies the concepts of particles and fields, but even considers fields preeminent over particles..
Ward observes here that the view of reality as a system of inert material particles subject to strict deterministic laws cannot explain the world's contingency, a fundamental aspect of experienced reality that needs to be taken at face value.
A jewel at the heart of quantum physics Quanta | 17 September 2013 "Physicists have discovered a jewel-like geometric object that dramatically simplifies calculations of particle interactions and challenges the notion that space and time are fundamental components of reality.
For physicalists, this fundamental aspect of reality is, depending on the particular theory, a set of basic subatomic particles, superstrings, hyper-dimensional membranes, etc.
