Dear Dr. Gibbs,
I enjoyed reading your well-written essay on the nature and speculative future of physics.
However, in my own essay "Fundamental Waves and the Reunification of Physics", I argue that the universe is telling a quite different story. Unity and simplicity are most fundamental, although the unity of physics was broken in the early decades of the 20th century. I review the historical basis for this rupture, and go on to present the outlines of a neoclassical synthesis that should restore this unity.
Briefly, quantization of spin in real waves such as the electron (there are no point particles) provides the scale of discreteness in what is otherwise a universe of classical continuous fields. There is no need for Hilbert space, indeterminacy, or entanglement. The same waves provide a real embodiment of time, space, and relativity; there is no need for an abstract spacetime.
In other words, quantum mechanics is not a theory of nature; it is a mechanism for turning continuous fields into soliton-like wavepackets with particle-like behavior. This requires a nonlinear component in the field equations that is hidden whenever spin is quantized. I do not know the mathematical form of this nonlinear component, but I describe some of its properties in the essay. For the electron field, this component generates the exclusion principle directly, without the need for Pauli's entangled mathematical construction. Planck's constant is the only true universal constant, and defines the granularity of the universe.
Furthermore, the advent of quantum computing takes this beyond obscure philosophy into the technological realm. Without entanglement, quantum computing will not work. There are billions of dollars being invested in this, and I expect an answer within 5 years. But when I have tried to discuss this with active participants in the field, they react as if I am killing the goose that is laying the golden eggs. No one wants to hear such a negative story, including funding agents. My prediction is that the failure of quantum computing will lead to a reassessment of the entire foundations of quantum mechanics.
Best Wishes,
Alan Kadin