The Question I Hadn’t Asked

“Behind it all is surely an idea so simple, so beautiful, that when we grasp it – in a decade, a century, or a millennium – we will all say to each other, how could it have been otherwise?”
John Archibald Wheeler

Nothing Becomes was born of an experience that I’ve come to understand was my mind’s attempt to answer the question I hadn’t asked: if nothing becomes, how does reality work? It was my unintended attempt at finding that simple and beautiful idea Wheeler described.

Effective theories in science are crucial. They explain how subsets of reality behave with extraordinary precision – quantum mechanics for the very small, general relativity for the very large, thermodynamics for the statistical, etc. They’re not just useful; they’re indispensable. And they provide the data necessary to rigorously approach the deeper questions, like “what is reality?”

But they can’t be the end of scientific discourse. Effective theories, by definition, are approximations that work within certain domains. They’re not claiming to be fundamental – they’re claiming to be useful. The question remains: what underlies them?

We need a willingness from at least some scientists and philosophers to ask those fundamental questions in a rigorous fashion. My glimpse of a potential answer – a reality built simply on nothing becoming – and my search throughout Nothing Becomes for scientists whose work resonated with that vision may not have found the right answer. I’m certain it hasn’t answered every question. But it demonstrates how to ask fundamental questions rigorously: to start from a minimal set of assumptions – in my case, asking what structure must exist if nothing becomes – and build from that foundation one logical step at a time, checking each step against what we observe in reality.

This kind of fundamental inquiry may not be as immediately productive as refining effective theories to another decimal place. It won’t lead to new technologies next year or better predictions next month. But science has never been about near-term productivity alone. It’s also humanity’s most powerful tool for answering the questions that have driven us since we first looked at the stars: who are we? why are we here? what is reality?

I hope my own search inspires others to ask these questions boldly and pursue answers rigorously – not abandoning the scientific method, but applying it to the deepest questions we can ask. The answers might come from trained physicists, philosophers, or anyone willing to think carefully and reason honestly. We just need to keep asking.