Journal of Systems Thinking · Volume 3, Issue 1 · 2023-10-30
Any Person, Any Study
A Different Kind of Theory of Everything (ToE)
Derek Cabrera, Laura Cabrera
https://doi.org/10.54120/jost.0000030
Abstract
What physicists call "Theories of Everything" (ToE) (i.e., String Theory or M-Theory) are not really "Theories of Everything." They are not, for example, theories of consilience that lead to the "unity of all knowledge" as outlined by E.O. Wilson. Nor are they pragmatically applied or useful to the majority of the estimated 2,400 formal academic disciplines or "fields of study." Nor are they pragmatically applied or useful to the majority of the countless more informal disciplines or fields of study and practice such as yoga, skateboarding, quilting, or firefighting. While sympathetic to the pursuit of such theories in physics, this paper suggests that we must distinguish between a truly universal Theory of Everything (ToE) and a physics-Theory-of-Everything (P-ToE). Thus, while it is factual that the laws of physics underlie everything, it is a misnomer to say that a P-ToE is universal because it cannot be applied to everything. Thus, it seems that the physics Theory of Everything oversteps the definition of a ToE and is imprecise. More clearly distinguishing between ToE and P-ToE allows for deeper discussion and exploration of universal ToEs, which can be reasonably applied to everything across all disciplines, both academic and non-academic, formal and informal. This paper outlines the logic for an empirically supported universal ToE called DSRP Theory that is useful and applicable to any person in any study and moves us closer to consilience.
© 2023 Journal of Systems Thinking (JoST) · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
