Beautifully written. Felt a bit prepared for this having recently read, “Reality is Not What it Seems”, but these concepts are still so hard to grasp. I just r

Beautifully written. Felt a bit prepared for this having recently read, “Reality is Not What it Seems”, but these concepts are still so hard to grasp. I just recommended the Dalai Lama’s “Universe in a Single Atom” in another thread and there’s something in that book that to me sounds like what Smolin is getting at — if I’m understanding correctly (and I’m probably not) — that ultimately reality must be studied subjectively to be truly understood. His claim is that through deep meditation on the true nature of things, the meditator can essentially conduct thought experiments — and that if we ever hope to truly understand reality, we need a way to scientifically measure those experiences. I have no idea how you’d go about that, since it seems fundamentally opposed to how we use objectivity to validate experiments — but it’s a fascinating thing to consider.