4 Occam's razor
Is Nature really, really complicated . . . ?
The
Occam's
razor
principle
tells
us
that,
of
two
explanations
that
account for all the facts, the simpler one is more likely to be correct.
The
prevailing
physics
establishment
theory
of
the
atom,
the
Standard
Model,
falls
well
short
of
accounting
for
all
the
facts.
It
tells
us
that
everything
within
the
universe
is
held
together
by
gravity
and
yet
it
is
unable
to
explain
what
gravity
is
or
the
lack
of
enough
of
it
to
hold
everything
together.
It
cannot
explain
the
imbalance
of
matter
and
antimatter
in
the
universe
which
it
says
should
be
there
as
a
result
of
the
universe
spontaneously
expanding
from
a
gravitational
singularity
fourteen
billion
years
ago.
Nor
can
it
reconcile
experimental
observations
at the atomic and the cosmic scale into one consistent theory.
The
theory
is
highly
complex,
inherently
mathematical
and
contingent
upon
many
hypotheticals.
It
tells
us
that
there
are
no
less
than
four
fundamental
forces,
electromagnetic,
strong,
weak
and
gravity,
and
at
least
twenty-four
fundamental
particles
(without
counting
the
many
variants
and associated antiparticles):
Six ‘flavours’ of quarks: up, down, strange, charm, top and bottom;
Six
types
of
leptons:
electron,
electron
neutrino,
muon,
muon
neutrino,
tau and tau neutrino;
Twelve
bosons:
the
photon
of
electromagnetism,
the
W
and
Z
bosons
of
the
weak
force,
the
eight
gluons
of
the
strong
force
and
the
recently
added Higgs boson . . .
.
.
.
so,
given
that
all
this
complexity
still
fails
to
tell
the
full
story,
maybe
we should ask:
Or is Nature simple?
Instead,
there
are
just
two
fundamental
particles
,
the
positive
quantum
and
the
negative
quantum
and
just
one
force
,
the
fundamental
electrical
force of attraction and repulsion between positive and negative quanta.
These
two
fundamental
quanta
of
charge
interact
to
produce
four
elementary
particles
:
the
neutrino,
the
photon,
the
electron
and
the
positron.
Each
of
these
is
real,
well
documented,
stable
and
experimentally
observable.
Everything
in
the
universe
is
built
solely
from
these four recognised particles.
That’s all we need to explain everything.
With
just
one
force
driving
everything
in
the
universe,
it’s
critical
to
understand
how
that
force
works.
But
first,
we
need
to
establish
the
basics.
The
Occam's
razor
principle
tells
us
that,
of
two
explanations
that
account
for
all
the
facts,
the
simpler
one is more likely to be correct.
4 Occam's razor
Is Nature really, really complicated . . . ?
Or is Nature simple?
Instead,
there
are
just
two
fundamental
units
of
charge
,
the
positive
quantum
and
the
negative
quantum
and
just
one
force
,
the
fundamental
electrical
force
of
attraction
and
repulsion
between
positive and negative quanta.
These
two
fundamental
quanta
interact
to
produce
four
elementary
particles
:
the
neutrino,
the
photon,
the
electron
and
the
positron.
Each
of
these
is
real,
well
documented,
stable
and
experimentally
observable.
Everything
in
the
universe
is
built
solely
from these four particles.
That’s all we need to explain everything.
With
just
one
force
driving
everything
in
the
universe,
it’s
critical
to
understand
how
that
force
works. But first, let’s establish the basics.
The
prevailing
physics
establishment
theory
of
the
atom,
the
Standard
Model,
falls
well
short
of
accounting
for
all
the
facts.
It
tells
us
that
the
universe
is
held
together
by
gravity
and
yet
it
is
unable
to
explain
what
gravity
is
or
the
lack
of
enough
of
it
to
hold
the
universe
together.
It
cannot
explain
the
imbalance
of
matter
and
antimatter
in
the
universe
which
it
says
should
be
there
as
a
result
of
the
universe
spontaneously
expanding
from
a
gravitational
singularity
fourteen
billion
years
ago.
Nor
can
it
reconcile
experimental
observations
at
the
atomic
and
the cosmic scale into one consistent theory.
The
theory
is
highly
complex,
inherently
mathematical
and
contingent
upon
many
hypotheticals.
It
tells
us
that
there
are
no
less
than
four
fundamental
forces,
electromagnetic,
strong,
weak
and
gravity,
and
at
least
twenty-four
fundamental
particles
(without
counting
the many variants and associated antiparticles):
Six
‘flavours’
of
quarks:
up,
down,
strange,
charm,
top
and bottom;
Six
types
of
leptons:
electron,
electron
neutrino,
muon, muon neutrino, tau and tau neutrino;
Twelve
bosons:
the
photon
of
electromagnetism,
the
W
and
Z
bosons
of
the
weak
force,
the
eight
gluons
of
the
strong
force
and
the
recently
added
Higgs
boson . . .
.
.
.
so,
given
that
all
this
complexity
still
fails
to
tell
the
full story, maybe we should ask:
4 Occam's razor
Is Nature really, really complicated . . . ?
The
Occam's
razor
principle
tells
us
that,
of
two
explanations
that
account for all the facts, the simpler one is more likely to be correct.
The
prevailing
physics
establishment
theory
of
the
atom,
the
Standard
Model,
falls
well
short
of
accounting
for
all
the
facts.
It
tells
us
that
everything
within
the
universe
is
held
together
by
gravity
and
yet
it
is
unable
to
explain
what
gravity
is
or
the
lack
of
enough
of
it
to
hold
everything
together.
It
cannot
explain
the
imbalance
of
matter
and
antimatter
in
the
universe
which
it
says
should
be
there
as
a
result
of
the
universe
spontaneously
expanding
from
a
gravitational
singularity
fourteen
billion
years
ago.
Nor
can
it
reconcile
experimental
observations
at
the
atomic
and
the cosmic scale into one consistent theory.
The
theory
is
highly
complex,
inherently
mathematical
and
contingent
upon
many
hypotheticals.
It
tells
us
that
there
are
no
less
than
four
fundamental
forces,
electromagnetic,
strong,
weak
and
gravity,
and
at
least
twenty-four
fundamental
particles
(without
counting
the
many
variants
and
associated
antiparticles):
Six ‘flavours’ of quarks: up, down, strange, charm, top and bottom;
Six
types
of
leptons:
electron,
electron
neutrino,
muon,
muon
neutrino,
tau
and tau neutrino;
Twelve
bosons:
the
photon
of
electromagnetism,
the
W
and
Z
bosons
of
the
weak
force,
the
eight
gluons
of
the
strong
force
and
the
recently
added
Higgs boson . . .
.
.
.
so,
given
that
all
this
complexity
still
fails
to
tell
the
full
story,
maybe
we
should ask:
Or is Nature simple?
Instead,
there
are
just
two
fundamental
particles
,
the
positive
quantum
and
the
negative
quantum
and
just
one
force
,
the
fundamental
electrical
force of attraction and repulsion between positive and negative quanta.
These
two
fundamental
quanta
of
charge
interact
to
produce
four
elementary
particles
:
the
neutrino,
the
photon,
the
electron
and
the
positron.
Each
of
these
is
real,
well
documented,
stable
and
experimentally
observable.
Everything
in
the
universe
is
built
solely
from
these
four
recognised particles.
That’s all we need to explain everything.
With
just
one
force
driving
everything
in
the
universe,
it’s
critical
to
understand how that force works. But first, we need to establish the basics.
