What if everything we know – particles, energy, even ourselves – is not the full story, but only a projection of something larger?

Like a shadow on the wall, our universe might be just the “imprint” of a deeper reality. That simple picture could make sense of some of physics’ biggest mysteries:

Why particles act like both waves and points.

Why invisible “dark matter” holds galaxies together.

Why the universe’s expansion speeds up as if pushed by hidden energy.


Imagine watching a movie: the screen shows the action, but the real story is happening in the projector. Could our physics be just the screen version of something bigger?

❓ What do you think?
Is this kind of projection analogy a useful way to look at physics, or just an entertaining distraction?


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Note: This is just a thought experiment, not a new theory. I’m sharing it to spark discussion and see how others react to the idea.

One way I like to picture dark matter is through the allegory of Plato’s Cave.

Imagine there is not only the main fire casting shadows, but also a small hidden candle somewhere in the cave.

The prisoners can’t see the candle directly, yet its faint, shifting light distorts the shadows on the wall. To them, reality looks slightly “off,” as if invisible forces were interfering with what they see.

In the same way, dark matter is like that hidden candle: we don’t observe it directly, but it bends gravity, alters the motion of galaxies, and changes the “shadows” we call visible matter.

30 minutes ago, strmo said:

Like a shadow on the wall, our universe might be just the “imprint” of a deeper reality. That simple picture could make sense of some of physics’ biggest mysteries:

That reads a little like holographic principle.

31 minutes ago, strmo said:

Imagine there is not only the main fire casting shadows, but also a small hidden candle somewhere in the cave.

That reads like the opening of "The greatest theory ever told (so far) Lawrence Krauss.

33 minutes ago, strmo said:

In the same way, dark matter is like that hidden candle: we don’t observe it directly, but it bends gravity,

Yes that is what it does. Gravitational effects only (so far)

Lots of things are like this in science, gravity, electricity, fields, particles, radiation.

We use techniques to detect them and measure their properties.

4 hours ago, strmo said:

What if everything we know – particles, energy, even ourselves – is not the full story, but only a projection of something larger?

The issue is how one would test this. We can only confirm what we can experimentally observe.

Bohm's 1980 book, Wholeness and the Implicate Order, seems to be the most Plato Cavey of the theories I've encountered. AFAICT the thrust of his argument is that it would be a cool explanation and somehow ties in with Karl Pribram's brain research and evidence for holographic (v localized) memory. Given that Bohm is anti reductionism, he has not gained a lot of traction with most physicists.

Edited August 26Aug 26 by TheVat

Given that this 'candle in the cave' is causal, it means we can detect/measure the effects it causes.
But the 'candle' has, so far, avoided detection, and we are in the exact same position.

All you are doing is giving it a different name.

9 hours ago, strmo said:

❓ What do you think?
Is this kind of projection analogy a useful way to look at physics, or just an entertaining distraction?

I think that it is not very entertaining but is certainly a distraction.

I also think you need to learn some real physics so you don't make elementary mistakes like saying

9 hours ago, strmo said:

Why particles act like both waves and points.

They don't.

If you what like to know what they actually do we can explain here far better than some journalist who doesn't understand Science.