This is an educational page devoted to a Theory of Everything that explains what existed before the Big Bang and how and why everything is connected. The Theory of the Quantum Ping developed over a fifteen year period, starting about 1996. I propose that a structureless entity -- a Symmetricos -- existed before the Big Bang. The Quantum Ping is my term for the trigger or tipping point that produce
d the first unit of structure, which I call the Primal-Simultaneity or Primal-Simul. The key features of the Primal-Simul are symmetry, antisymmetry, a link called an onto-copula, and a "temporal state" of simultaneity. These features produced boundary, dimension, motion, and Time. The Primal-Simul replicated to form a generative Sea of Structure that I call the Ontolimpidum ("Clear Being"), abbreviated OLD. Space-time is the existential veneer of the OLD. Quantum Gravity is a structural state of the basic unit of structure of our universe. That basic unit might also be regarded, in philosophical terms, as a Unit of Existence or a Unit of Being. The Sea of Structure has inspired religious metaphors, the Spirit of God one example. It appears that science, philosophy, and religion (our three realms of Knowing) are shaped by the same enduring metaphysical themes. Examples are noted in the book. One must journey beneath the metaphors of the mind (to the extent possible) to glimpse the deeper metaphysics. I am a science-minded person at heart but appreciate the role of philosophy and religion in making sense of Being and Knowing. There is no such thing as "Nothing" or "Nothingness" in our universe. Every nook and cranny is filled with the Ontolimpidum (structure). The universe and the Laws of Nature do not come from "Nothing" as suggested by theologians and some scientists. I agree with the Roman Poet Lucretius, "Nil posse creare nilo." ("Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.")
My theory provides the mechanism for consilience (the linking of all knowledge, from the Big Bang to the human mind), so thoughtfully advocated by E.O. Wilson in his book titled Consilience. I can't prove any of this. However, my theory of evolutionary structure offers an explanation of the many symmetries and opposites (a form of symmetry) in the mind and the universe. Simultaneity is the basic circumstance of Time. Linked inverse symmetries and simultaneity set the stage for motion. I believe that a mathematical description of the Primal-Simul or an onto-node is the Theory of Everything. It's impossible to illustrate the Primal-Simul, of course. However, with the help of my wife, I attempted an illustration in my book. It resembles Yin & Yang, but there are critical differences. The Quantum Ping draws upon many philosophers, theologians, and scientists, including Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Nicholas of Cusa, Sir Isaac Newton, Kant, Descartes, Hegel, Leibniz, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Stephen Hawking, Paul Ricoeur, Edward O. Wilson, Heinz Heimsoeth, Brian Greene, Steven Pinker, and Paul Tillich. The "springboard idea" that led to my book occurred to me in Washington, DC, during a walk down Massachusetts Avenue from the National Cathedral to Dupont Circle. In some ways, Part I is more of a “Poem of Creation” than a theory. I offer it in the spirit of the Timaeus – a theory of the cosmos written by Plato nearly 2,500 years ago – that was guided by the philosophy, science, and mathematics of the day. I am not a physicist or a mathematician but do my best to write about our leading cosmological theories, Calabi-Yau Shapes, and the mathematics of symmetry. There are chapters devoted to evolutionary biology, Ludwig Wittgenstein, metaphor, and phenomenology. Chapter IV is a critique of Stephen Hawking and Leonard Molodinow’s The Grand Design (2010). With regard to E8, my theory suggests that it would be linked to its geometric inverse. The book is in two parts. Part I is "A Journey of the Mind" that presents the Theory of the Quantum Ping. Part II is "The Journey of the Heart" that describes the life of the author, with special reference to experiences that shaped the development of the Theory of the Quantum Ping over a fifty-year period.
