What’s Really Going On?

Abstract

Abstract In Chapter 9 we answer Zeilinger’s question, “What’s really going on?” concerning how Nature works. In other words, we present an ontology over which the constraints NPRF + h and NPRF + c range and operate. We contrast contextuality with reductionism and relationalism, then discuss relational quantum mechanics. We explain our version of multiscale contextual emergence, called quantum–classical contextuality. Accordingly, bodily (classical) objects interact via the exchange of quanta of energy–momentum. NPRF + c constrains the distribution of worldtubes of bodily objects in spacetime while NPRF + h constrains the distribution of quanta exchanged between bodily objects. Thus, NPRF + h is an “all-at-once” or “atemporal” constraint on the distribution of quanta among bodily objects in spacetime. We call such constraints adynamical global constraints. Feynman’s path integral formalism for quantum mechanics is contrasted with Schrödinger’s equation. We present our Poincaré symmetric ontology.