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The cosmic secrets of godlessness all wrapped up by a fellow with a Ph.D. writing on the internet

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Is God the All-Powerful Quantum Vacuum?

12 min readMay 19, 2025
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This is a dialogue I had with

about the scientific grounds for pantheism, and the philosophical implications of such a view.

Tom

In a universe increasingly understood through the language of quantum uncertainty, Field theory, and wave functions, the notion of determinism begins to fade — not because reality lacks structure, but because that structure is not imposed by an external agent or bound by linear causality. Rather, it emerges from within, as relational resonance — patterns arising out of process, not purpose. This shift in perspective calls for a new understanding of the universe, one not tethered to classical theism or the hidden determinism embedded in many forms of philosophy, but rooted in a deeper understanding of process, emergence, and semantic relationships.

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle in Quantum Mechanics is often cited as the death knell for classical determinism. However, paradoxically, it introduced a new kind of determinism — a statistical determinism, as though the probabilistic behaviors of particles established a more sophisticated, hidden deterministic order of the universe itself. But this is still an imposition, a…

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Grim Tidings

Published in Grim Tidings

The cosmic secrets of godlessness all wrapped up by a fellow with a Ph.D. writing on the internet

Benjamin Cain

Written by Benjamin Cain

Ph.D. in philosophy / Knowledge condemns. Art redeems. / https://benjamincain.substack.com / https://ko-fi.com/benjamincain / benjamincain8@gmailDOTcom

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My interpretation of QM is that it is an epistemological theory (about what we can know) rather than an ontological theory (what is there). I’m with Bohr (Copenhagen) and Einstein’s interpretation in that respect. But, I go a step further in that…

13

I truly enjoyed this dialogue. However, I cannot overlook the lingering question that arises from the apparent indifference of the cosmos and the implied responsibility placed upon us to create morality ourselves:
What happens when two free beings…

96

This was a great and stimulating read between two sharp thinkers. Enjoyed it. I agree that projecting a mystical element onto the quantum vacuum and all that entails is unwarranted. But playing devil’s advocate, I might also challenge the unexamined…

46