Dear Joe,
You are right that there are differences in individual things that are categorized by man to be the same type of thing. Generally things are not categorized with the same name because they are believed to be completely the same in all respects, but are similar enough to each other in form or function, etc. that an action or interaction that works in a specific way with one will generally work the same with all of them. As an example, if you take a snowflake and heat it to above 0 degrees centigrade it will change from the solid snowflake to a drop of water. This is a general truth that applies to all water snowflakes. Although environmental conditions such as pressure, etc. could alter the temperature at which the change would occur; such variables would still affect all similar snowflakes basically the same. The reason that science is based on the concept of identifying things that are very similar to each other in some way rather than trying to identify all of the structural details about each individual thing is that it is based on the fact that man does not have the capability to determine all existing details about all things, but you can gain much in ability to control your environment for your benefit by looking for similarities in appearance and function, etc. in things, such that when you learn how to get one of such things to do what you want it to do, you can then apply the same methods to the others also. On the other hand, if you look at a specific snowflake and identify some trait that it possesses that is different than in all other snowflakes, anything that you do to exploit that difference will only apply to that particular snowflake. It might not work the same in other snowflakes that didn't have that trait. Practical science is all about making things conform to man's desires so that they can be used to make man's life better in some way. As an example, it is not necessary to completely understand all of the conditions existent in each matter particle in a sample of a substance such as Freon in order to use it in a heat pump to transfer heat from one place to another place. All you really need to know are the traits that they all or at least most of them share in the way they are structured together that can be used for that purpose. There is one problem with that approach, however, in that relatively small differences in very complex structures can sometimes yield undesirable results. This is why drugs that are developed for and usually work well on most people for some purpose can cause other problems such as allergic reactions in some people who have slightly different genetic makeup, etc. The simpler a structure is, the fewer such variations in behavior should be expected to be found. That is one reason that Physicists should be greatly concerned about why simple interactions between what they believe to be very simple matter particles can yield so many different outcomes and why those outcomes have different probabilities of occurrence. I find it very interesting that instead of considering the possibility that matter particles are more complex in structure than they were thought to be, the approach has been to consider something that is in some ways much simpler in structure than matter particles (space) to be much more complex than it is with vacuum energy, etc.
If you consider that the things like the stars and snowflakes that we observe in some way with our senses are actually real existing things, then observations of them would not be abstract observations, but literal observations of their forms. If you then use your mind to analyze a star that you observed through your telescope, your mind will generate abstract structures that will ultimately generate a literal image in your mind of what the star looked like when you saw it. Not all observations or analysis of such observations are abstract. Repetitive patterns and cycles that exist and that can be observed can also be literal and not abstract in nature. I usually use the word abstract to mean when information is produced in a form that does not allow you to extract that information from direct observation without knowledge of some type of code or structure that must then be interpreted in order to access the enclosed information and literal as information that is provided in a form that can be understood by direct observation. It appears that you may be using abstract to mean information that is provided in a literal form through observation, but is ignored by the observer. I was not talking about that type of observation in my paper. That being said, it is important to recognize that when an observation is made by man, much of the information that is presented is often not perceived and/or understood by the observer even when the observer is attempting to understand the observation to the best of his ability. As an example, when the astronomer looks through his telescope, he cannot directly observe all of the frequencies of energy that are presented to him in the image because his eyes can only see a very limited range of frequencies. When you couple with that the fact that man's current limited level of development prevents him from even knowing some things that would be important to look for, it is true that sometimes information that is presented even in a literal form may not be recognized and perceived by the observer.
When you talk about each thing being unique once how would you consider a water molecule if it is first broken down into its separate atoms and then the same atoms are combined again back into a water molecule? Would it still be the original water molecule or is it now somehow a new different water molecule to you? Changing a matter particle into an energy photon is similar in that they are both composed of motions. If a motion exists in one place in it a matter particle is produced. If it is moved from there to another place in it then it becomes an energy photon. The same total amount of motion exists in it in either form. Observations have shown that if you bring a matter particle (an electron) and an antimatter particle (a positron) together at low kinetic energy, the matter and antimatter particles disappear and an energy photon(s) appear in their place. If the matter and antimatter particles have not been changed into energy photon(s) then what has happened to the matter and antimatter particles and where did the energy photons come from? The energy photon(s) that appeared as a result of the interaction contain the same total amount of motion (energy) that was in the matter and antimatter particles that disappeared in the interaction.
Sincerely,
Paul Butler