A Starting Point.

In an attempt to understand the workings of our Universe, it is important to have an understanding of the current level of our knowledge and distinguish between hard facts and theoretical proposals.

Every theory must have an initial concept or principle on which it is based.

"I have deep faith that the principle of the universe will be simple." - Albert Einstein

'Every complex system can be reduced to a simple set of rules' - Murray Gell-Mann.

Taking the Universe as the ulitmate complex system, it too must be based on a simple set of rules. These rules must encompass all aspects of the Universe, and to provide a stable system be the simpest set of rules possible, ultimately be comprised of a single rule.

The first problem is where to start.

How do you search out the one fundemental rule from which everything in the Universe is based. The most obvious answer is to break down what is currently known to a point where the is a single rule or entity.

No matter where you start, there comes a point where further reduction results in purely theoretical conclusions.

The structure of the atom is described in the standard model, but again is purely theoretical.

The atom is a system and once you start looking at the components of an atom you can no longer see the system. When atoms are smashed in particle accelerators, what is recorded is not the atom, it is not even the propoerties of the atom, it is what is happening to its components the moment they are no longer part of the atom. You will not detect any properties of the system called atom because when it was smashed it ceased to be.

Smashing atoms has been likened to breaking plates. If you take two identicle plates and hit them in the exact same place with the exact same force, you should get two identicle sets of plate fragments. From this data you can determine that using a different force will result in a different set of fragments, this can be tried and no doubt proven to be the case. It doesn't tell you much about the plate though.

The assumption has to be made that as far as a starting point, the atom is too complex a system and there are too many unknowns to go beyond it.

If there is no system that can be broken down to provide the Holy Grail of Rules, then the quest will have to look to the simplest particle.

If there is no system that can be broken down to provide the Holy Grail of Rules, then the quest will have to look in the other direction. Take the most basic particle known and attempt to build from it.

The most basic particle we know is the Photon. It is massless, has no charge yet is the most prolific free particle in the Universe.

What do we know about this simplest of particles ?

The Photon has a constant velocity, it always travels at 186,000 miles per second.

They come in varying levels of energy.

They display properties of both Particles and Waves.

They are affected by Gravity.

The Photon would apear to adhere to a number of different rules, but as the simplest particle we know about, it has to be the starting point.