Exploring Subatomic Phenomena Beyond Particles and Waves
I used ChatGPT to evaluate my ideas about subatomic phenomena as shared states of sensory-motive experience rather than literal particles or waves traveling across space. Beginning with questions about whether the Earth loses energy into space, ChatGPT affirmed my understanding that radiation can’t actually put energy into a vacuum, but rather can only be absorbed by matter as changes in its material properties.
I then asked:
Because the instruments that we use to measure energy and photons are made of matter, including our eyes that would register the frequency/energy of a photon, couldn’t it be that what we call photons are neither particles nor waves that travel across a spatial vacuum, but rather illumination could be a state of matter that is contagious, directly from atoms to atoms as states of stimulation that have the consequence of changing the geometry of how matter moves (explaining both particle-like and wave-like changes in the positions of massive particles). The Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory could be used to support this.
AI Answer:
Multisense Realism 
Wheeler-Feynman Absorber Theory has been adapted for application in quantum theory by John Cramer and Ruth E Kastner in what is called the Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Physics. The idea that everything operates on the basis of pre-negotiated communicative transaction with the exchange of energy, mass or information occurring between an emitter and an absorber and involving the preliminary exchange of an offer wave (‘slowed’–retarded, going from past to present) and a confirmation wave (‘speeded up’–advanced, going from future to present) occurring in the quantum substratum outside of space-time, is referenced by ChatGPT as a possible explanatory framework The presumption is that everything depends on a giving and a receiving ‘pairing’ at a very basic level. It offers a very different view and fits well with Heisenberg’s concept of ‘potentia’.
And the idea that there are no actual ‘carrier-pidgeons’ conveying the communication between entities but just bidirectionally propogating fields operating outside of space-time altogether in the realm of the ‘quantum substratum’–ie in a purely relational realm of potentiality out of which spacetime and its contents actualize based on communicative exchange. Would this be possible? For some reason, Wheeler and Feynman ended up walking away from and abandoning the absorber theory–I think it was actually Feynman’s PhD thesis supervised by Wheeler. It was originally developed to explain electromagnetic phenomena, i believe–not quantum events. But something was seen to be horribly wrong with it and I still do not understand what that was. And it has to do with the reality of ‘self-interaction’ (causing the Lamb Shift) which is something that the Absorber theory does not account for.
The other possibility to consider is Karen Barad’s idea of ‘intra-action’ as distinct from ‘inter-action’ with reference to her idea of ‘agential realism’. Here is what Google’s Copilot has to say about this connection between Barad’s agential realism and the transactional interpretation… ‘What if transacting entities are actually ‘co-constitutive’ rather than being ‘trains passing in the night’…
Karen Barad’s “transactional interpretation” refers to her concept of “intra-action”, where the world is viewed as a dynamic, interconnected web of phenomena rather than distinct, isolated entities, and where meaning and material reality are co-produced through these interactions. [1, 2, 3]
Here’s a more detailed explanation: [3]
• Agential Realism: Barad’s theory, known as agential realism, posits that the universe is comprised of “intra-acting agencies”. This means that things don’t have inherent, pre-defined properties or boundaries, but rather, these qualities emerge through their interactions with other things. [2, 3]
• Intra-action: “Intra-action” is a key concept in Barad’s work, and it challenges the traditional notion of “interaction” by emphasizing the interconnectedness and co-constitution of things. Instead of viewing things as separate entities that interact, Barad sees them as mutually constitutive, meaning that their properties and boundaries are defined by their relationships with other things. [1, 2, 3]
• Quantum Physics and Meaning: Barad draws inspiration from quantum physics, particularly the concepts of entanglement and complementarity, to support her ideas about the interconnectedness of matter and meaning. She argues that the boundaries between “object” and “agency of observation” are not inherent, but rather are created through the act of observation itself. [1, 2, 4]
• Challenging Dualisms: Barad’s work challenges traditional dualisms, such as the mind-body dualism, the subject-object distinction, and the material-discursive divide. She argues that these dualisms are artificial and that the world is best understood as a dynamic, interconnected whole. [1, 2, 5]
• Implications for Social and Natural Sciences: Barad’s work has implications for both the social and natural sciences, suggesting that we need to rethink how we understand the world and our place in it. By emphasizing the interconnectedness of things, she encourages a more holistic and relational approach to knowledge. [4, 6]
Generative AI is experimental.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Meeting-Universe-Halfway-Quantum-Entanglement/dp/082233917X[2] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-021-03160-1[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agential_realism[4] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13194-022-00476-8[5] https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-5275-6292-9-sample.pdf[6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1467089520300531