Leibnizian Quantum Theory - Mondads, Wavefunctions, and the Emergence of Physical Reality
- 1. Leibnizian Quantum Theory Mondads, Wavefunctions, and the Emergence of Physical Reality An update from an Amateur Scientist By John J. Winders, Jr.
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- 3. -1- Introduction and Overview The gentleman whose portrait is shown on the cover of this essay is Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), a German polymath, philosopher, scientist and mathematician. He was the co-inventor of the calculus, and although Isaac Newton is given most of the credit for that, Newton’s mathematical notation is archaic and obsolete whereas Leibniz’s notation is clear and direct, so today Leibniz's notation has been universally adopted in mathematics, science and engineering. Leibniz is described as a "rational idealist." He published one of his last works entitled “Monadology” two years before his death, describing fundamental ontological entities he named “monads.” It is common for 21st century scientists to dismiss 17th century scientific concepts as mere superstition and magical thinking based on religion, but I think monadology can easily be tied in with modern cutting-edge theory, specifically with respect to nested boundaries as being the plan of creation. Here are a few of the properties of monads: • They have no parts and cannot be divided, meaning they are not composed of smaller entities. This property compares to unbounded singularities, which is the starting point of building the universe from nested boundaries. • They are self-contained and do not interact with each other in a causal way. External influences cannot penetrate or affect a monad. They are non-physical. • Although they perceive physical reality, they do not causally affect it. However, this does not rule out influencing physical reality non-causally at the quantum, non- classical level. • Each monad is distinct and possesses a unique perspective on the universe. They are conscious entities with perception that is localized in space and time. • They are not static; they are constantly undergoing internal changes (perceptions and appetitions). More about this below. • They cannot be created or destroyed naturally, only by instantaneous creation and annihilation. This can be compared with Wheeler’s “it from bit” process where a bit of entropy is annihilated when an “it” takes its place, followed by instantaneously creating one or more replacement bits of entropy. • They can be distinguished between different levels, ranging from simple, unconscious monads to rational souls possessing self-consciousness and reason. This will be expanded further below. The full list of attributes in “Modadolgy" covers 14 pages. The full text translated into English can be found On this site. A partial description of monadic properties can also be found Here. The last bullet item above points out a salient feature of monadology. As a Christian living in the 17th century, Leibniz naturally placed God at the apex of the monad hierarchy. But I prefer to name it Source, whose monadic attributes are basically the same as those in the lower ranks, which are finite; however, but Source is singularly infinite. This corresponds to Source as described in This essay. Source, being 0D, is projected upward into the higher dimensions as the boundary of 1D Time, which becomes the boundary of the 2D Temporal Boundary of 3D Space, and upward to 4D Spacetime. Individual monads, also being
- 4. -2- dimensionless, are sown as seeds in the higher layers, and are in some sort of communication with Source. Their perceptions are bounded although they themselves are unbounded, and can serve as Source’s “eyes and ears” for subtley directing universal evolution. They evolve into higher states of consciousness along with the universe's evolution as “bits” turn into “its.” This ties in with Wheeler’s participatory universe, where consciousness directs the creation process from a localized perspective. However, participatory consciousness does not have to be human, nor is the participatory causation retroactive as implied by Wheeler’s Big Eye model. Monads may also provide a means of satisfying the demands of modern quantum physicists who insist that only a consciousness observer can "collapse" the quantum wave function. In that sense, conscious awareness permeates the physical universe via monads that are fragments of Source seeded into higher dimensions. Monads have been compared to members of an orchestra, who play different instruments having different sounds with varying impacts on the overall production. The members do not influence each other directly; rather, they follow their own individual parts according to the overall musical composition, in perfect synchrony and harmony with each other. Leibniz stated something I found interesting: He said there are an infinite number of possible universes that God could have made, but ours is the “best possible world.” Replacing the label God with Source, infinite possibilities exist within Source because it is a boundless singularity, the boundary of all higher dimensions, complete and self-sufficient. Source is a plenum of inconsistency and uncertainty since all possibilities plus their opposites are contained within it, making Source a plenum of entropy. The main appetition or teleological urge of Source and the lesser monads is to create consistency and attain knowledge, according to which Leibniz refers as sufficient reason. However, very few possible universes (maybe just ours?) are sufficiently consistent according to Gödel’s definition to fulfill the requirement of sufficient reason. In general, it is always worthwhile to re-examine the wisdom of the past that can be restated in modern scientific terms. Leibnizian Quantum Theory: Mondads, Wavefunctions, and the Emergence of Physical Reality Despite significant progress in understanding the physical world over the past century, modern theoretical physics is still struggling with coming up with a Theory of Everything (TOE). It’s clear that Leibniz anticipated something along the lines of quantum mechanics, and I am certain if Leibniz had known QM in its current form, he would have synthesized Monadology and QM into a full mathematically-based TOE three centuries ago. In Leibniz’s metaphysics, monads are indivisible, windowless centers of perception that do not exist within physical space and cannot causally interact in the physical sense. Similarly, the quantum wavefunction |Ψ is not a physical object but a mathematical representation of ⟩ all possible states of the universe. Both belong to a non-physical order of reality, and their interaction occurs entirely in the informational domain. Under this view: • Monads: Non-physical perceivers that register definite experiences. • |Ψ : The structured set of all possible experiences available to monads. ⟩
- 5. -3- • Physical reality: The subjective harmony of realized perceptions across monads and Source. The evolution of the universe proceeds in two complementary domains: 1) Non-physical evolution, where |Ψ evolves according to the Schrödinger equation, continuously ⟩ restructuring the landscape of possibilities. Each monad’s internal perceptual state evolves in parallel, reflecting the unfolding of these possibilities, and 2) Actualization, when environmental decoherence prunes interference among possibilities, monads “select” a particular decohered branch as their experienced reality. This selection is not a physical collapse but an informational alignment between the monad’s perception and a subset of |Ψ . ⟩ It is important to note that although their singular, non-physical, subjective properties do not change, according to Leibniz monads evolve internally. Thus monads possess different histories and levels of perception, from the simplest to the most complex, e.g. human consciousness (and beyond). Leibniz’s concept of pre-established harmony ensures that each monad’s perceptions, though internally generated, are coordinated with all others and with Source to produce a consistent shared reality. In essence monads complete the consistent, yet incomplete, physical universe in accordance with Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. In quantum terms, this corresponds to global correlations – encoded in the initial conditions of |Ψ – that align all monadic ⟩ selections so that they collectively manifest a coherent physical world. This interpretation reframes the measurement problem. Collapse is neither an objective physical process nor a purely human cognitive act. It is the universal process by which non-physical monads register definite experiences from the non-physical wavefunction: Perception is tantamount to creation. The physical record of this process is an emergent, harmonized projection into spacetime. There are five advantages of Leibnizian quantum theory over physicalism, pure idealism and dualism: 1. It avoids anthropocentrism. All monads, not just human minds, participate in actualization. 2. It clarifies the ontological category of |Ψ . Both |Ψ and monads are non-physical yet ⟩ ⟩ real. 3. It integrates metaphysics with physics by providing a conceptual bridge between informational ontology and quantum formalism. 4. It preserves standard quantum statistics: Probabilities emerge naturally from the alignment process. 5. It provides a coherent and comprehensive description of universal evolution based on Source projecting itself into higher-dimensional space. By placing both the wavefunction and monads in the non-physical domain, the Leibnizian Quantum Theory offers a coherent metaphysical framework for quantum mechanics. The physical world becomes a projection of harmonized monadic perceptions, grounded in a universal space of possibilities. This view avoids the pitfalls of anthropocentric interpretations while honoring both the mathematical structure of quantum theory and the philosophical insights of Leibniz.