On the Nature of Matter

No one knows the true nature of matter. The fictional CEO of the Brookstone Heuristics Corporation, Allen Brookstone, learns this explanation of it from a friendly alien in The Chaos Machine:

Five Months Ago - Mount Ararat, Turkey

Allen shook his head, "Why doesn't it ever fill up?"

He was sitting in the console room with Minerva who was trying to explain how the information was stored in the Chaos Machine. Allen had mastered the basic interface and had satisfied himself that he understood how most of it worked. But now he was trying to understand the mechanics behind the system and had wandered into a wholly different world. In front of them, about a half-meter above the console, floated a dully glinting sphere. It was clearly opaque, but had a shimmering luster about it that made it appear vaguely out-of-focus. Although they were only looking at a projection, Allen was assured that the real quadro-trilithium crystal at the heart of the machine looked no different.

"You indicated that you understood the nature of the synchronized singularities when we initially studied this," said Minerva.

"Yes, I did. I understand that the singularities in the crystal are attuned somehow to the ones making up the Earth and everything on it. I also understand how the singularities in the crystal can be read-out real-time to display the virtual mirrors of what the Earth singularities are doing. But there's a finite number of singularities in the crystal, right?"

"Well, yes," agreed Minerva, "but only in a volumetric sense. Remember that there's only one singularity to begin with."

"That's the part I'm struggling with, I guess. How can there only be one of them and yet they make up the crystal?"

"I think I see where you're going off track. I don't think that I explained that the entire universe is made up of just the one singularity. It is everywhere in everything, including the crystal, because it literally is everything. All matter, as we know it, is the result of the composite interactions of the nodal manifestations of the singularity." She paused a moment before continuing, "We live a very sheltered life here. I sometimes forget how primitive the state of knowledge is in the outside world. I skimmed through some of the current physics papers to get a feel for how little you know about matter in general." She looked at Allen with sincerity, "You're just going to have to trust me on this."

"I'm no physicist, but it was my minor in college and I was able to work through the math in quantum physics. Of course, the books I learned from have mostly been proven wrong or misguided, but I think I can understand it if I keep at it. You're so patient with me, Minerva!" Allen smiled and leaned back in the chair, clasping his hands behind his neck, "Fire away."

"If I didn't think you could understand it, I wouldn't waste your time." Minerva smiled back at Allen, "Hazel wants to make sure that all your questions are answered completely. He said to hold nothing back." She touched the controls on the console and brought up one of the simulacrums from the manual, "What we loosely call a singularity is conceptually what you might think of as a point or locus in space. It has no length, width, or depth. No dimensionality whatever."

"Check."

"So how many singularities can fit in a small volume, a pea perhaps?"

"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"

Minerva frowned, "I don't think I understand your question."

"Never mind," replied Allen. "An infinite number can fit in a pea."

"And how many can fit in something much smaller, like a grain of salt?"

"Still an infinite number." Allen grinned impishly, "But they're much closer together."

Minerva ignored him and continued, "So how many would fit in a singularity?"

Allen thought for a moment. For a brief instant he felt he could see what she was driving at and then the thought eluded him. "While the singularity has no volume, it can still contain an infinite number of singularities within itself."

"Exactly, only now they are crowded in so close together that they are indistinguishable from only one singularity."

"But if there's no volume, then they're not really contained, are they?" Allen frowned and rubbed his temples, "On the other hand, if they have no dimensionality, no volume is required." He looked at Minerva, "And if they have no volume they have no mass, either."

"Now you're getting it. If you can conceive of an infinite number of singularities contained in a single singularity, it becomes a little easier to understand the next part. While our math works out for an infinite number, it also holds true for a finite number. This suits our needs very well because there is a finite number of singularities comprising all of space-time and the equations are readily solvable for finite values."

"Okay, I think I'm with you so far, but I'm not sure where this is going."

"Consider what is commonly called The Big Bang. Just prior to that first moment, all the singularities in the universe were contained within themselves. Itself. And then something happened. They were suddenly allowed to spread outwards from the central locus. This spreading out, if you will, is what we perceive as matter. The movement of the singularities in relation to all the other singularities determines our perception of them. Some of them are neutrons, protons, and electrons making up atoms while others are photons, quarks, and dark matter and such. The singularities themselves have no size or mass, but their interactions produce a unified field that changes in quantum steps."

"I'm assuming this is not the same quantum theory I learned?" Allen asked.

"No, but it's similar in the sense that a singularity has one state at one moment and a different state in the next moment." She anticipated Allen's question, "A moment is defined as a very short period of time. Very, very short in this case." She continued, "So, moment by moment, the singularities throughout the universe change state in lock-step with each other. They are able to do this because they are simply different states of one singularity and merely appear as many."

"So the state of a particular singularity, or the apparent manifestation of one, determines what it is?"

"In a nutshell, yes. The real key is in understanding the relationships and how to manipulate them between moments. The food processor, for example. You take a fresh cheeseburger and store the states of its singularities in a template. Then you take a source volume of necessary atoms and rearrange their states to match those of the template. Swapping states between source and destination requires no energy. Moving them a short distance requires only a little bit. However, changing their state from one to another may require enormous amounts of energy or supply it in return. State-wise, everything balances everywhere throughout the universe."

"I think I follow you, so far. But I'm not sure what you meant by manipulating them between moments."

Minerva replied, "When the singularity changes states, there is an instant where it's in no state at all. Without outside influence, it will normally become the same state again the next moment. It is during this instant that you can influence the state it next assumes. Changing the state of the singularities in an aluminum atom so that it becomes a gold atom is possible, but this requires an immense amount of energy plus the addition of a lot more singularities. Changing the states of gold to aluminum, however, yields up energy and provides a source of singularities."

"So you make food and energy from raw materials. And, if I understand you correctly, as long as your state conversions run downhill, the energy output can be used to push some of them uphill where necessary."

"If by uphill and downhill you are referring to net energy input and output, then you are exactly correct."

"And the singularities in the quadro-trilithium crystal are in lock-step with all the singularities in the Earth?"

"Yes,” replied Minerva, “and don’t forget that the spherical boundary extends somewhat beyond the asteroid belt as well."

"But there's more singularities in our solar system than could possibly be in that crystal!"

"They are the same in number, but as you pointed out earlier, they are packed much closer together. After all, they have no volume."

"Then why doesn't the crystal weigh as much?"

"Due to the unique properties of the crystal lattice, they interact in such a way as to cancel each other out. The crystal has volume, but no mass, as we know it. It sits suspended in a force field to keep it stabilized."

"But there's still a finite number of singularities, yes?"

"Yes."

Allen shook his head, "Then, why doesn't it ever fill up?"