The Fluid Society

Physics

Over the past few years, many columns on this website have explored what I call the fluid society. Through my work in digitalisation, I have become fascinated by the transition humanity is undergoing: from a classical, industrial society — organised around nation states — towards a more global, digital reality, in which those structures are becoming less fixed and are gradually giving way to networks of companies, science and social communities. I call this new world “fluid” because fixed frameworks such as borders, institutions and identities are becoming less decisive, while dynamic, interconnected systems are becoming increasingly important.

 

This way of thinking — in terms of dynamics, processes and coherence — also raises a more fundamental question for me: how is reality itself actually structured? As a physicist by training, I have always been fascinated by the question of why there is anything at all. Why does reality exist? What makes it possible for an organised world to arise from a state without structure? 

 

In recent months I have taken up this question again. This has led to a series of reflections in which I try to explore the minimal conditions under which a physical reality is possible. These reflections are philosophical in nature, but they are aligned with the current state of physics and are not in conflict with it.

A Different Approach to Physics

Article 2 in the series: In Search of the Foundations of Reality A New Perspective on Reality and Its Underlying Unity Disclaimer The ideas presented in this series of articles are speculative and have not been experimentally confirmed. They are intended...

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What Was Nothing Preceded By?

Article 1 in the series: In Search of the Foundations of Reality When we try to think about the beginning of reality, we almost immediately become trapped in language. After all, our words emerged within an existing world of space, time,...

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