Physics and philosophy of physics

**Physics**, etymologically "knowledge
of nature" is the natural science that involves the study of
particles and objects their motion through space and time, along with
related concepts such as energy and force. One of the most
fundamental scientific disciplines, the main goal of physics is to
understand how the universe behaves.

Physics is one of the oldest academic
disciplines, perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of astronomy.
Over the last two millennia, physics was a part of natural philosophy
along with chemistry, biology, and certain branches of mathematics,
but during the scientific revolution in the 17th century, the natural
sciences emerged as unique research programs in their own right.
Physics intersects with many interdisciplinary areas of research,
such as biophysics and quantum chemistry, and the boundaries of
physics are not rigidly defined. New ideas in physics often explain
the fundamental mechanisms of other sciences while opening new
avenues of research in areas such as mathematics and philosophy.

As far as its relation to megaten, there is obviously a bit to relate it to. Megaten often tries to describe old mystical concepts in light of modern physics ideas. As well as adresses some of the issues that come up in relation to it. Since there is an endless amount to cover in relation to physics, this page will be limited to things that the games directly have some relation to.

**Philosophy of physics** studies the
fundamental philosophical questions underlying modern physics, the
study of matter and energy and how they interact. The philosophy of
physics begins by reflecting on the basic metaphysical and
epistemological questions posed by physics: causality, determinism,
and the nature of physical law. (For instance, are laws inherent, or
stable regularities). It then turns to questions raised by important
topics in contemporary physics. Quantum physics actually has a lot of
use for the philoophy of physics due to the nature of directly
perceiving certain quantum realities being fundamentally impossible.
Leaving only educated attempts to reason out their actual nature and
what is actually going on.

## General

### Metaphysics

**Physicalism.** in philosophy,
physicalism is the ontological thesis that "everything is
physical", that there is "nothing over and above" the
physical, or that everything supervenes on the physical. Physicalism
is a form of ontological monism—a "one substance" view of
the nature of reality as opposed to a "two-substance"
(dualism) or "many-substance" (pluralism) view. Both the
definition of "physical" and the meaning of physicalism
have been debated. It contrasts with **Idealism** that says that
everything is mental, (note that this doesn't mean in every form that all that exists is mind. But in most rather that all we experience is mind. Persona 5 at the end hints at this by saying that the whole world is the product of cognition, though that is ambiguous and can have multiple meanings). **neutral monism** that says everything is in
between physical and mental, and that this neutral reality generates
both, and **dualism** which can either refer to mental and physical
being different essences, or the idea that the mental is a different
type of property than the physical, but still part of it (which is
compatible with physicalism). Note that physicalism isn't something
proved by physics per say, but its a theory preferred by many since
it means you have to posit less things going on behind the scenes of
what we can measure.

Physicalism is the modern word that
replaces the older word **materialism**. The reason for the change
being that classical “matter” does not exist in modern physics.
However, since so many things have materialism worked into the name,
the word materialism is still sometimes used as an anachronistic
synonym for physicalism. Despite classical matter no longer being
part of physical models, molecules act "close enough" to it
that the word matter is still used for them. Usually when talking
about a larger collection.

**Hempel's dilemma** is the question of
if one is to be a physicalist, how can they define the physical. On
the one hand, we may define the physical as whatever is currently
explained by our best physical theories, e.g., quantum mechanics,
general relativity. However, we know both that these are incomplete,
and do not explain consciousness. On the other hand, if we say that
some future, "ideal" physics is what is meant, then the
claim is rather empty, for we have no idea of what this means. The
"ideal" physics may even come to define what we think of as
mental as part of the physical world. In effect, physicalism by this
second account becomes the circular claim that all phenomena are
explicable in terms of physics because physics properly defined is
whatever explains all phenomena. Beenakker has proposed to resolve
Hempel's dilemma with the definition: "The boundary between
physics and metaphysics is the boundary between what can and what
cannot be computed in the age of the universe".

This has interesting dillemas for
megaten. Due to the fact that the barrier between physicalism and
neutral monism is kind of ambiguously defined. Megaten ironically
brings this issue up itself. When talking about the mind fumi
directly calls neutral monism by name. But refrains from calling it
true. On the flipside, in strange journey, even the demon world seems
to be being presented as in a sense physical. Albeit using an alien
physics. So the games themselves leave open this ambiguity between
these theories and calls them both to mind without specifically
making a declaration. Even leaving open that the physical can include
dimensions we are unable to access, and so something analogous to a
spiritual world can still be “physical” in some sense. While the game treats mind as an inherent facet of the physical in a panpsychist way, it doesn't clearly delineate whether to call this physicalist or neutral monist.

In fact, megaten even adds further
confusion by conflating neutral monism with idealism. When fred
explains that the world is made of data, he relates what data is to
thoughts. Some historical people have even considered neutral monism
to be a form of crypto-idealism, saying that if this neutral essence
was not itself physical, then it was mental primarily rather than
neutral.

### Degrees of determinism

**Laplace's demon** was the first
published articulation of causal or scientific determinism by
Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1814. According to determinism, if someone
(the Demon) knows the precise location and momentum of every atom in
the universe, their past and future values for any given time are
entailed; they can be calculated from the laws of classical
mechanics. Although classical mechanics believed this, in modern
physics this is heavily doubted due to the concept of quantum
indeterminism. In quantum physics, particles act in seemingly
indeterminate ways, and it is not clear that there is any hidden
determinsitic nature to this. They may be fully indeterministic.

In megaten, the term laplace shows up
in devil survivor, as the name of the system sent by someone named
“The Observer“ (speculated, but not necessarily confirmed to be a
system made by Naoya) and gives mails about things that will happen
that day. The things are not fated, but merely highly likely. It gets
more messed up in its messages over time, and suffers from a complete
breakdown following the delivery of its last e-mail on the 6th day,
in which it explicitly names the original party as among the dead
before it self-terminates, listing the cause as "too many
invalid parameters." This actually references or implies the
reality of some indeterminism, and the idea that it can closely but
not absolutely predict certain events. Which can be a subtle
reference to quantum indeterminism overtaking classical mechanics.

**Quantum indeterminism** is the
apparent necessary incompleteness in the description of a physical
system, that has become one of the characteristics of the standard
description of quantum physics. Namely, it says that some movements
of particles are not actually set in stone, but work
probabilistically. Note that while there is evidence for this in the
localized sense, it is not absolutely proven that it is
indeterministic. It may simply be deterministic in ways that we are
incapable of measuring. Meaning using variables that are not local to its interaction.

### Black holes and wormholes

**Stephen Hawking** is an English
theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research
at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of
Cambridge. His scientific works include a collaboration with Roger
Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of
general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes
emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first
to set forth a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the
general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

The character steven in many of the
mainline games is obviously meant as a reference to Stephen hawking.
Made obvious because he uses a wheelchair, and is associated with
opening the portal to the demon world originally letting out the
demons in the first game. Which is a reference to stephen hawking's
work on black holes, which many of the games relate to wormholes. (as
black holes were indeed hypothesized to include wormholes by some).
Another relation is the fact that Stephen in-game shows up as an
advocate for the neutral side, which is often depicted as the most
humanist side. Which is based on some of stephen hawking's atheist
comments about how he doesn't believe the world was created by a God.
(This relation being confirmed in an interview). Though he is an odd
choice for this, since that is not really a strong focus of any of
his work, and is based more on offhand comments of his.

To expand, many of steven's attack
names in IVA are based on things related to steven hawking. In
addition to the ones listed below, he also has ones that include the
word code and involve him running programs. Whether that means he
himself is nanomachine based, or whether these codes go further than
that and are running programs in reality itself is unknown.

**Black body radiation**. The higher
the temperature, the more stuff glows. That means, that you can look
at the colour of stuff and know the temperature without touching. The
problem is that things are pretty colourful with all the paints and
dyes, so there is this theoretical object called "black body"
that has no colour on its own and the only colour it has is the
colour of its temperature. Black holes are near-perfect black bodies,
in the sense that they absorb all the radiation that falls on them.
It has been proposed that they emit black-body radiation (called
Hawking radiation), with a temperature that depends on the mass of
the black hole. \*\*Hawking radiation\*\* is blackbody radiation that is
predicted to be released by black holes, due to quantum effects near
the event horizon. It is named after the physicist Stephen Hawking,
who provided a theoretical argument for its existence in 1974. One of
steven's moves in iva is called black body radiation.

**Singularity**. In the centre of a
black hole is a gravitational singularity, a one-dimensional point
which contains a huge mass in an infinitely small space, where
density and gravity become infinite and space-time curves infinitely,
and where the laws of physics as we know them cease to operate.
Steven has moves in IVA called singularity fire, etc, relating to
stehpen hawkings' work on black holes. How exactly any of this is
related to elements is a little ambiguous though.

**A wave function** in quantum
mechanics is a description of the quantum state of a system. Steven
likewise has an attack named this. Although this is an aspect of
physics not associated with steven hawking.

**Pair production** is the creation of
an elementary particle and its antiparticle due to a physical
interaction. It is named in one of stevens moves.

**Particle annihilation** is the
opposite of pair production. Being when two opposite particles cancel
eachother out. It is named in one of stevens moves.

**Energy compression** refers to the
fact that particles are bundles of energy that can form into what we
think of as particles. It is a physical attack, implying that steven
compressed energy into matter to use in an attack.

**Black Holes and Wormholes**. Black
holes are a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein's General Theory
of Relativity, which was published in 1916. In fact, the idea of a
black hole was proposed as early as 1783 by the amateur British
astronomer John Michell. Ironically, Einstein himself did not believe
in the existence of black holes, and he strongly resisted the idea,
even though his own theory predicted them. Astronomers have since
then detected them indirectly in enough different ways that there is
little doubt of their existence. A black hole is a region of space in
which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, including
light, can escape its pull - a kind of bottomless pit in space-time.
At its center lies a sizeless, infinitely dense singularity, a place
where the normal laws of physics break down, and which our
understanding of is necessarily limited due to no information being
able to escape. Their black appearance of course comes from light
being unable to escape them.

Einstein’s work was also at the heart
of the theory of wormholes, or “bridges” as he called them. Which
is the idea of a hypothetical feature of space-time that is
essentially a short-cut through space and time, potentially linking
widely separated parts of the universe. Although there is also much
theoretical work to support their mathematical possibility, there is
no experiential evidence or proof of their existence.. These are
often (though not exclusively) associated with black holes, since the
idea is that black holes may bend space-time so much that it curves
in on itself and the other opening is in another area entirely.
Another physicist when looking over the physics of black holes,
noticed that another solution was also possible, which described a
phenomenon which later came to be known as a “white hole”. A
white hole is the theoretical time reversal of a black hole and,
while a black hole acts as a vacuum, drawing in any matter that
crosses the event horizon, a white hole acts as a source that ejects
matter from its event horizon. Some have even speculated that there
is a white hole on the "other side" of all black holes,
where all the matter the black hole sucks up is blown out in some
alternative universe, and even that what we think of as the Big Bang
might in fact have been the result of just such a phenomenon.

Einstein himself explored the idea of
wormmholes and achieved a solution known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge
(also known as a Lorentzian wormhole or a Schwarzschild wormhole). To
better visualize a wormhole, consider the analogy of a piece of paper
with two pencil marks drawn on it (to represent two points in
space-time), the line between them showing the distance from one
point to the other in normal space-time. If the paper is now bent and
folded over almost double (the equivalent of drastically warping
space-time), then poking the pencil through the paper provides a much
shorter way of linking the two points, a short-cut through space-time
much like a wormhole. Some theorists are encouraged to think that
real counterparts may eventually be found or fabricated and, perhaps,
used as a tunnel or short-cut for high-speed space travel between
distant points or even for time travel (with all the potential
paradoxes that might entail). However, a generally accepted property
of wormholes is that they are inherently highly unstable and would
probably collapse in a much shorter time than it would take to get
through to the other side. At any rate, it is predicted that they
would collapse instantly if even the tiniest amount of matter (even a
single photon) attempted to pass through them.

Although some possible theoretical ways
around this problem have been suggested (for example, using “cosmic
strings” or “negative matter” or some other exotic matter with
“negative energy”) to prevent the wormhole from pinching closed,
the idea remains largely in the realm of science fiction for the time
being. It has, however, still not been mathematically proven beyond
all doubt that some kind of exotic matter with negative energy
density is an absolute requirement for wormholes, nor has it been
established that such exotic matter cannot exist, so the possibility
of a practical application of the theory still remains. Because a
wormholes is a conduit through 4-dimensional space-time, and not just
through space, Stephen Hawking and others have also posited that
wormholes might theoretically be utilized for travel through time as
well as through space, although it is widely believed that time
travel into the past will never be possible due to the potential for
paradoxes and self-destructive feedback loops

As far as megaten goes, black holes
themselves show up in a few places. The yamato perpetual reactor is a
particle accelerator that is depicted as being able to create black
holes. This is done in the law ending and the white ending of the
game. Merkabah refers to black holes as abbadon, in association with
the angel of the bottomless abyss from revalations. But the yamato
perpetual reactor is also depicted as being able to open up portals.
Showing the black hole / portal connection. The character of steven
is also depicted as having created the demon summoning program in
SMTI. In part accidentally, via opening a portal. The Schwarzwelt
from strange journey is also depicted as a portal, despite a back
hole like appearance. So the games do seem to play fast and loose
with this association. Often depicting wormholes or portals that are
usually exclusively portals, yet even under such connotations are
shown depicted together. In strange journey things like wormholes also appear, although they call them quantum tunnels. Obviously regular teleportation devices are
also depicted in the games for use by humans, and attached to
terminals.

**A Schwarzschild black hole** or
static black hole is a black hole that has no charge or angular
momentum. A Schwarzschild black hole is described by the
Schwarzschild metric, and cannot be distinguished from any other
Schwarzschild black hole except by its mass. Most likely, **The**
Schwarzwelt **from strange journey is named after this. Though**
Schwarzwelt also translates to black world, likely a metaphor for
it's existence being born from dark actions and desires of humanity.
The naming association here likely comes from the idea that it is
something that resembles a black hole, but less aggressive, being a portal to another space. The
naming schema would have been a bit of a stretch on their part, but even so.

### Particle accelerator

**A particle accelerator** is a machine
that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to
nearly light speed and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large
accelerators are used in particle physics as colliders. Accelerators
work by pushing particles like electrons, protons, or atomic nuclei
(the centers of atoms) with electric fields and by steering them with
magnetic fields. Their main use is to study particle physics. When
accelerated particles hit other particles such as atoms, smaller
pieces come out. This helps people see particles smaller than an
atom. Normally those particles cannot be seen, but accelerators come
with specific instruments for analysis. They can be used in a variety
of ways.

The yamato perpetual reactor in IV is
depicted as a ring in reference to the shape many particle
accelerators have. And the fact that it comes with danger, even the
ability to destroy the universe can be a subtle reference to fears
people had before their construction of the possibility of them
creating black holes and destroying the world. The fact that it
doubles as an energy source is just sci fi logic though. Since the
word reactor is in the name, there may be an implication that it
somehow generates energy from portals.

### The standard model

**The Standard Model (SM)** of physics
is a theory of the elementary particles, which are either fermions
(building blocks of atoms) or bosons (other particles). It also
explains three of the four basic forces of nature. The four
fundamental forces are: \*\*gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force,
and the strong force\*\*. Gravity is the only one the model does not
explain.

**Fundamental interactions**, also
known as **fundamental forces**, are the interactions in physical
systems that do not appear to be reducible to more basic
interactions. Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) are proposals to show
that all of the fundamental interactions, other than gravity, arise
from a single interaction with symmetries that break down at low
energy levels. There are four conventionally accepted fundamental
interactions

**Gravity** - the attraction between
things that have mass

**Electromagnetic** - the attraction
between oppositely charged particles (or the repulsion between
similar ones). Note that how demons work is implied to be related to electromagnetism somehow. With the reason magnetite has its name being that it is related to magnetic fields. More information on the metaphysics page.

**Strong Nuclear** - holds particles in
the nucleus of an atom together

**Weak Nuclear** - causes radioactive
decay of atoms

You can actually think about the other forces in the same way as how gravity curves spacetime. Instead of
 spacetime curvature, electromagnetism is the curvature of the
electromagnetic field. Instead of all matter curving this field, only
matter with electric charge curves it. In contrast to gravity, the
electromagnetic field can be curved positively *and* negatively
according to the sign of the source. Strong and weak forces are the same
 general idea, but their details are more complicated.

As far as megaten goes, there is no
direct references to these forces. However, in record breaker, when
you fight canopus, it has four abilities which the game presents as
the four forces of the world. These are referred to as the factor of heat, the
factor of gravity, the factor of space, and the factor of time. It
seems like the goal here may have been to attempt to capture the loose concept
of the fundamental forces, but rearrange them into a way that would
be less abstract for the plot. If we assume that canopus' “heat”
factor means energy in general, then we can maybe loosely interpret
it as all of the aspects of reality, including space and time, though
not sorted in any physically cohesive way. There is no particular
direct physical analogue to the way they listed them for canopus'
abilities other than it loosely being everything that happens in the
universe if you cram it all together. Its not really a direct
depiction of the irl fundamental forces. Since the forces as depicted
in physics do not include space and time, due to those generally
being considered backdrops, rather than things that happen “in”
the universe so to speak. Though some modern physical theories do try
to break down this barrier. Which could mean that if canopus' “heat”
is a loose word for the unified theory unification of the other
three, then some future physics might be able to make sense of the
four things aligned that way. But again, one shouldn't take that as
too literal.

**The** **entropy** of an object in thermodynamics is a measure of the amount of energy which is unavailable to do work.
 Entropy is also a measure of the number of possible arrangements the
atoms in a system can have. In this sense, entropy is a measure of
uncertainty or randomness.
 The higher the entropy of an object, the more uncertain we are about
the states of the atoms making up that object because there are more
states to decide from. A law of physics says that it takes work to make
the entropy of an object or system smaller; without work, entropy can
never become smaller. So the entropy of objects increases over time unless energy is used to offset it.

More entropy is often referred to as disorder increasing and order decreasing. It is possible that this gives some context for when law and chaos or alternate figures like them depict certain ultimate goals of law and chaos as preserving things forever versus the chaotic alternative of paranirvana. Paranirvana dissolves your body entirely, and so would be disorder increasing, which matches with being called chaos. Preserving it forever implies entropy not increasing and so order being maintained. and so those goals being presented as sometimes existing as goals for law and chaos matches the terms. Likewise, since entropy always increases this is an explanation for why any universe in game is depicted as having a finite lifespan, only to end and a new one form.

**An astrolabe** is an elaborate
inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and
astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the
positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local
time given local latitude and vice versa, surveying, and
triangulation. It was used in classical antiquity, the Islamic Golden
Age, the European Middle Ages and Renaissance for all these purposes.
In the Islamic world, it was also used to find the times for Salat
prayers. The term is used due to its star associations for the
control device of the world in record breaker. And is an alternate
term for the akashic records / stratum in game.

### Particle bonding

Individual particles compose larger materials via connections that are known as bonding. There are three broad main types of intramolecular bonds - ionic, covalent and metallic. In strange journey they offhandedly mention fluidizing particle bonds when describing the unstable surface of the schwarzwelt.

**Covalent bonding**:
 In the simplest terms, covalent bonding allows two or more atoms to
share electrons in an overlapping shell, which pulls them together. This is done between two molecules that are not metals when they don't have the charge for an ionic bond.

**Ionic bonding**:
 This allows atoms to switch electrons, producing charged particles
called ions which attract each other due to their opposite electrical
charge.

**Metallic bonding**: This involves many electrons moving about between a positively charged framework (properly called a lattice) of ions. Done between metals.

**Weak inter molecular bonding**, which forms **molecular solids** (sometimes anomalously called "covalent solids"). **Intermolecular forces** (IMF) are the forces which mediate interaction between seperate molecules. These are categorized into different types such as Ion-induced dipole forces, Ion-dipole forces, Hydrogen bonding, and van der Waals forces.

### Dark matter

**Dark matter** is a type of matter thought to be responsible for much of the mass in the universe. The idea arose when astronomers found that the mass of large astronomical objects, figured out from their gravitational effects, was much greater than the mass figured out from the "**luminous matte**r" they contain. Luminous matter refers to the matter that is visible to us, or that we can directly get an idea of the presence of. What exactly dark matter is is ambiguous, with some suggesting that it may even be exotic matter. (See below).

According to the Planck mission team, and based on the standard model of cosmology, the total mass–energy of the known universe contains 4.9% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter and 68.3% dark energy.
 Thus, dark matter is estimated to make up 84.5% of the total matter in
the universe, while dark energy plus dark matter make up 95.1% of the
total "stuff" in the universe.

In devil survivor 2, Fumi mentions that Magnetite is comprised of dark matter which is used to physically manifest demons via the Nicea Demon Summoning App. Also, Polaris uses the move "Magnetite Conversion" to spawn demons on the field, implying him using dark matter as a resource. Magnetite being of course the recurring element in-game of the essence used to manifest demons. It is said to be the same thing as aether in iva, and humans are treated as one of the most primary sources of it.

According to ancient and medieval science, **aether**, also spelled **æther** or **ether**, also called **quintessence**, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere.
 The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain several
natural phenomena, such as the traveling of light and gravity. In the
late 19th century, physicists postulated that aether permeated all
throughout space, providing a medium through which light could travel in
 a vacuum, but evidence for the presence of such a medium was not found in the Michelson–Morley experiment, and this result has been interpreted as meaning that no such luminiferous aether exists.

Note that although aether is not the same idea as dark matter, they do have similarities, which is why megaten is treating them as the same. Aether also has mysticism describing it as having mystical properties, which explains its tie to the human mind and summing of demons in-game. Interestingly, note how magnetite is depicted as primarily coming from humans in-game as well as being what permeates space may tie to why humans are treated as a central aspect of reality.

### Multiverse

**The multiverse (or meta-universe)**
is the hypothetical set of finite and infinite possible universes,
including the universe in which we live. Together, these universes
comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter,
energy, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. Some
of these universes may even have different physical rules than our
own. In megaten, the name for the multiverse in nocurne is given as
the Amala Universe. Though this term is unique to nocturne. And in
other games like IV they simply refer to it as different worlds. Not
only can there be different worlds that began separately, but there
is also another version of the multiverse based on quantum mechanics
where things in superposition can simply stay in superposition
leading to the world splitting off into multiple slighlty different
worlds. (Or both types of multiverse can even exist at the same
time). note that in IV, similar worlds to your own are reached via
the particle accelrator. And these seem more related than the
different worlds.

Note that at some points like in
strange journey especially, alternate places like the demon realm via
parts of the Schwarzwelt are presented as still physical, but
operating based on different physical rules. (and at the beginning
they even call it other universes). So one could consider that by
this logic it is saying that denizens of a more complex universe
could be considered gods to us. Which are almost certainly something
that exists, due to the multiverse being considered a highly likely
scenario due to the statistical improbabiliy of our set of physical
laws being the one that exists if it were not merely one of many.
However, like epicurus says, just because such a thing exists doesn't
mean it has any contact with humans. In reality different universes
are presumed to have no direct interaction with eachother. Almost by
definition. And if we haven't been visited by regular aliens, aliens
from another universe is even less likely. Of course note also that
in-game, the demons are not necessarily from an entirely different
universe, but an aspect of ours that we have no direct interaction
with. Note that in apocalypse, the association of the gods with
aliens was used as a deliberate influence for some of the gods such
as odin, confirmed in interview. So the association is drawn in game.

### Exotic matter

**Exotic matter** is matter that
somehow deviates from normal matter and has "exotic"
properties. A more broad definition of exotic matter is any kind of
non-baryonic matter—that is not made of baryons, the subatomic
particles, such as protons and neutrons, of which the ordinary matter
is composed. Exotic mass has been considered a colloquial term for
matters such as dark matter, negative mass, or imaginary mass.
However, Exotic mass may exist, as it could be used to support the
Schwarzschild black hole theory by being used to stabilize the
blackhole/wormhole counterpart.

Exotic matter can refer to hypothetical
particles that have "exotic" physical properties that would
violate known laws of physics, such as a particle having a negative
mass. Negative mass would possess some strange properties, such as
accelerating in the direction opposite of applied force. A
hypothetical particle with imaginary rest mass would always travel
faster than the speed of light. Such particles are called tachyons.
There is no confirmed existence of tachyons.

But the term exotic matter can also
refer to more rare things that are still compatible with our
understanding of physics. Such as hypothetical particles that have
not yet been encountered, such as exotic baryons, but whose
properties would be within the realm of mainstream physics if found
to exist. Or states of matter that are not commonly encountered, such
as Bose–Einstein condensates and quark–gluon plasma, but whose
properties are entirely within the realm of mainstream physics. And
States of matter that are poorly understood, such as dark matter.

The term exotic matter is used in
strange journey to refer to materials found within the Schwarzwelt .
The implication of this, then, is that it is things incompatible with
our normal understanding of physics. But note that the interesting
thing then, is that it is still physical in a sense. The schwarzwelt
is our world running into a kind of more abstract physics that does
not match with it well, other than in the specific space time planes
that are constructed within to do so. Implying that the spirit world
is continuous with our physical world in a sense, albeit a sense that
we are not directly capable of interacting with via our own physical
rules. Perhaps because their dimensionality is higher, or otherwise
incomprehensible or something of that nature. (Note that dimensions
do not have to be straight. It may have higher dimensionality with
curled up dimensions, or with dimensions that are something entirely
different than our concepts of space and time).

Note though that it having a physical analogue does not necessarily imply being totally tangible as we understand it. Especially when factoring into account that demons when not forced into a tangible shape we can interact with by humans are seen as in an abstract shape, with an appearance conveying the idea of being pure data.

### Space and Time

**A manifold** is a concept from
mathematics, though often used in physics. It is a topological space
that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point, though
globally it may not. Making a manifold is like making a flat map of a
sphere (the Earth). The Earth is a sphere, a three dimensional object
of geometry. Yet, maps (two-dimensional representations) can be made
of the Earth. A manifold is something that "looks like" a
Euclidean space (of any dimensionality) wherever you stand in it. A
figure-8 is not a manifold. At most points it looks like we're in
1-dimensional Euclidean space (that is, a line). But if you stand at
the point where the two loops meet, you'd know something weird is up.
You can move in exactly four directions, which isn't like a euclidean
space.

**A Calabi–Yau manifold**, also known
as a **Calabi–Yau space** is a mathematical construction used by
physicists to describe parts of nature that are too small to see with
the human eye. Most people know that there are three space directions
and one time direction in the universe – these directions are
called dimensions. Physicists use Calabi-Yau spaces in studying high
energy physics of which string theory is a part, to add 6 or 7 or
other numbers to build up more dimensions to the universe, and then
map a way to make sense of it in ways we can understand. If it is
seen in a three dimensional space, the Calabi-Yau manifold will look
like
this
picture. Showing something of higher dimensionality curved up to
appear in a smaller space. Manifolds may also represent space that
contains imaginary numbers.

In strange journey, one of the objects
you find is called a rosetta manifold. The fact that the word
manifold is used seems to explain a bit about how the schwarzwelt
works. There are aspects to the things behind the scenes that you
can't see. Perhaps ones of higher dimensions. But the space time
planes you interact with match human levels of dimensions. And may be
folded in a way the dimensionality of makes sense to us. The
implication is that the object you found has higher dimensionality,
but you are looking at the part of it that matches your own
dimensionality. However, their use of the word manifold is a bit
vague due to the shapes of the object not necessarily complying.

**Dimensionality** refers to the amount of dimensions something has. A dimension is anything that is a measurable extent of some kind. The three primary dimensions are length, breadth, depth, or height. With an extent in time also being a dimension. Although we exist in three spacial dimensions, mathematics and physics often talks about higher dimensionality. In IV, sanat refers to you as a creature of lower dimensions. Which implies that it has a higher dimensionality than you. Notably, it is possible for dimensions to be bent or curved, and so even higher dimensionality doesn't necessarily clearly delineate something's nature.

**Vanishing point**. In graphical perspective, a **vanishing point** is the point in a perspective drawing where lines that either parallel to each other or are not parallel to the main subject of the painting
 come together. At this point the two parallel lines seem to converge.It
 can be experienced in real life while seeing a parallel set of rails or
 the two parallel lines of a road , they appear to converge at a far
away point. In other words implying that as the lines go to infinity they seem to go together.

In strange journey they refer to the Schwarzwelt's single exit point as the vanishing point. This association with infinity is matched with ouroboros which represents infinity and talks about how humans are inferior for being bound to finite matter.

**Brane cosmology** refers to several
theories in particle physics and cosmology related to string theory,
superstring theory and M-theory. The central idea is that the
visible, four-dimensional universe is restricted to a brane inside a
higher-dimensional space, called the "bulk" (also known as
"hyperspace"). If the additional dimensions are compact,
then the observed universe contains the extra dimensions, and then no
reference to the bulk is appropriate. In the bulk model, at least
some of the extra dimensions are extensive (possibly infinite), and
other branes may be moving through this bulk. Interactions with the
bulk, and possibly with other branes, can influence our brane and
thus introduce effects not seen in more standard cosmological models.

**A brane** is a physical object that
generalizes the notion of a point particle to higher dimensions. For
example, a point particle can be viewed as a brane of dimension zero,
while a string can be viewed as a brane of dimension one. It is also
possible to consider higher-dimensional branes. In dimension p, these
are called p-branes. The word "brane" comes from the word
"membrane" which refers to a two-dimensional brane. Branes
are dynamical objects which can propagate through spacetime according
to the rules of quantum mechanics. They have mass and can have other
attributes such as charge. A p-brane sweeps out a (p+1)-dimensional
volume in spacetime called its worldvolume. Physicists often study
fields analogous to the electromagnetic field, which live on the
worldvolume of a brane.

In IVA, when you visit yhvh's universe,
the different areas are referred to as branes. Implying that in that
universe, branes are an accurate depiction of the rules of its
physics. And that when you leave the regular universe to visit the
behind the scenes parts where yhvh lives this becomes more apparent,
since it is constructed specifically for his uses directly, rather
than for regular people to live in. When you teleport around it also
uses the words plane and dimension. Likewise, in an earlier interview they talked about the kabbalah and branes, saying "*I think there is a way to interpret the aforementioned relationship between "Brane" and "Bulk" by replacing it with the worldview of the Kabbalah, which has been used extensively in the previous "Shin Megami Tensei" games. The bulk is the Tree of Life (the entire world), the branes are each of the Sefirot (Malkuth, Yesod, etc.), the real world (the real world brane) is the material world (World of Assiah), the Schwarzwelt (the Information Dimension brane) is the immaterial world (World of Atziluth), and so on."*

What this shows is that even the demon realms are in a sense continuous with our own physics, (rather than being a totally distinct spiritual thing) albeit operating on a scale that isn't bound by our ordinary three dimensional one. But that as a behind the scenes area, it has a set of rules that ours is a mere subset of. Meant to show that it still follows rules continuous with our physics, albeit of a higher order, our specific universe is a subset of, giving rise to the idea that things we think of as spiritual can actually be theoretically understood and contextualized in ways continuous with the physical world, even if a higher order of thing than our normal concepts of physics are. This may give context to the entire multiverse, showing that individual pockets form subsets with specific rules, which themselves form further pockets. And that it is setting the rules of a specific picket that gives rise to a specific type of world that would arise based on the rules there.

It also gives context to the concepts of spirituality, pointing out in a sense that they don't have to reference things totally unrelated to the world, and so on the flip side are not "irrelevant" from a physical perspective as some who leave religion might be inclined to think. Because interdimensional spirit beings or no, everything is just different possible structures of reality, and the same types of questions and implications of the nature of mind and its relations arise even within one's own structure. The questions of the approaches of spirituality are relevant in a reality with four dimensions as much as eight. Since there is no reason that the latter, being only a difference in the mathematical structure of reality would de facto change the nature of questions of value.

**Non-Euclidean Geometry** is not just
one type, but any of the forms of geometry which are not normal flat
geometry. Meaning that in the same way you can draw shapes on paper,
or bend a paper which leads to different properties, you can imagine
bent space, including three dimensional geometry that would then have
different properties, such as intersecting parralel lines. The last
path before yhvh's throne in IVA is called non euclidian space.
Though ironically in-game doesn't seem to look particularly non
euclidian. The implication being that for whatever reason, yhvh's
universe operates on different physical rules than the normal one.
Which again, can tie into the fact that the demon worlds or reality in
general are continuous with our physics in general, albeit in an
alien way that our normal world doesn't immediately visualize. The game is just expressing this in various ways to let you know the types of ways it will occur.

**Spacetime** In physics, spacetime is
any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single
interwoven continuum. Since 300 BCE, the spacetime of our universe
has historically been interpreted from a Euclidean space perspective,
which regards space as consisting of three dimensions, and time as
consisting of one dimension, the "fourth dimension". By
combining space and time into a single manifold called \*\*Minkowski
space\*\* in 1905, physicists have significantly simplified a large
number of physical theories, as well as described in a more uniform
way the workings of the universe at both the supergalactic and
subatomic levels. But note that you are not meant to see time as
literally equivalent to space.

In the schwarzwelt in strange journey,
they refer to the different areas as “space time planes.”
Obviously this just means what it sounds like. Areas that have
spacetime that we are capable of regularly interacting with in
distinct areas. Note that these can also correspond to or be
something like these concept of branes. But note that branes come
from a specific theory that the game does not seem to explicitly
advocate. So in practice it simply means areas with regular space
time we are capable of using. They also use the term “plane shift”
to refer to changing which plane they are on, though this doesn't
have any deeper physical meaning than it sounds like, specifying
moving from one cut off spacetime to another cut off spacetime in
some sense.

Likewise, note that in TDE in nocturne, lucifer points out that when the universe ends, time stops. So it seems that time in the sense normally understood only exists internal to universes. It is possible that the multiverse has some kind of meta-time or another time dimension between it though.

**Klein bottle**. In topology, a branch of mathematics, the **Klein bottle** is an example of a non-orientable surface; it is a two-dimensional manifold against which a system for determining a normal vector cannot be consistently defined. What this means is that it is an object that only has one continuous surface like a mobius strip. It was likely originally called klein surface before it was misinterpreted into being called a bottle. In strange journey you get one from beating ouroborous, which is meant to show its nature as a thing which defies ordinary concepts of limited three dimensional space.

**Closed universe**. One thing mentioned in strange journey is the fact that space in the schwarzwelt bends around back on itself so if you kept going in the same direction you will eventually end up where you started. This is compared to an endless staircase. This is one cosmological model for how our universe itself functions, albeit at so large a size that no being would ever see themselves looping around.

**Complex spacetime** extends the
traditional notion of spacetime described by real-valued space and
time coordinates to include complex-valued space and time coordinates
(includes ones with imaginary numbers). Although mainly used for
abstract physical modeling, it is loosely used as a concept in
various science fiction series such as xenosaga as a concept of a
type of space that functions in a way we can't directly interact with
(and to make it sound more alien than just another dimension of
space). Though obviously its fictional analogues are again a stretch
in terms of actually relating to the idea. Megaten doesn't say
anything about complex spacetime, but its an example of one of the
ways one could try to define alien properties /dimensions that are
still physical interacting with our own in ways that to human eyes
would look bizarre.

### Other Quantum stuff

**Quantum tunnelling** refers to the
quantum mechanical phenomenon where a particle tunnels through a
barrier that it classically could not surmount. This happens due to
the statistical nature of its location meaning that its movement can
be such that it can simply statistically appear past certain thin
types of barriers.

In strange journey they talk about
quantum tunnels being how they can get between the different space
time planes in the schwarzwelt. However, its not clear that their
concept has much to do with actual quantum tunneling. Other than in
that they do have to pass by barriers they call quantum fields
in-game. So the implication may be that the way they pass resembles
quantum tunneling. Due to passing by something that they normally
shouldn't be able to. However, this is never really stated in-game,
and it would be a vague relation at best. What they call quantum tunnels actually more closely resemble wormholes.

**Quantum field theory** is the
theoretical framework for constructing quantum mechanical models of
subatomic particles in particle physics. What it explains is that
every particle is actually part of a field. The universe is full of
fields (which each of span the entire universe), and what we think of
as particles are just excitations (elevated energy levels) of those
fields, like waves in an ocean. An electron, for example, is just an
excitation of an electron field. This works because fundamental
particles are actually just bundles of energy. Not tiny balls, as
classical physics thought. (for more on this idea, see the ontic
structural realism and digital physics entries below). So in a very
real sense, the universe is not really a container with things inside
it, but more like a screen where some pixels are lit.

In strange journey, the term quantum
field however is used for barriers that prevent you from exiting any
of the areas of the schwarzwelt, and leading to another. In game they
say that the red sprite is a foreign object it repels. And altering
their plasma armor's parameters will allow it to synchronize with the
quantum field. they describe it by saying that the quantum field is
like oil and the red sprite is like water. but it can pass through if
they cover the red sprite's plasma armor with some oil of their own.
They have the parameters of the “oil” from the rosetta.

Whether the quantum fields as described in strange journey are meant to resemble the physical description is a little ambiguous. In strange journey they tend to function like force fields. Whereas in physics they are like the underlying space that a type of thing can exist in. One way to rationalize this together is that since this space operates on an alien nature that what is actually happening is adapting one's output to match it. Language that vaguely resembles how they mention moving through them in game. But that is speculative at best.

**Simulation hypothesis** is a thought
experiment that is loosely physics related, though not directly. At
its most basic it is the position that reality is in fact a
simulation (most likely a computer simulation), of which we, the
simulants, are totally unaware. Its more advanced aspects ask whether
similations like this are possible to run with any feasibility and
cheapness. If so, it may be highly likely we are part of one, because
if a sufficiently advanced world can produce hundreds or even
thousands or more of them, then the statistical probability of us
being in one rather than a normal universe is high. This of course
rests on thier possibility as well as probability. Obviously being
part of a simulation was the plot of digital devil saga. Note an
interesting thing is that digital devil saga II implies that life in
a simulation and life in the real world may not be that fundamentally
different, since both are made of data. Which is another important
physics based point. So see why check the digital physics section
below.

**Observer (quantum physics)** In
quantum mechanics, "observation" is synonymous with quantum
measurement and "observer" with a measurement apparatus and
"observable" with what can be measured. Thus the quantum
mechanical observer does not have to necessarily present or solve any
problems over and above the (admittedly difficult) issue of
measurement in quantum mechanics. The quantum mechanical observer is
also intimately tied to the issue of observer effect. More simply, it
means anything that interacts with a superposition, and thus finds it
in one state. It does not have anything to do with human observation in particular. Although the idea that "observation"
somehow requires consciousness despite being a popular idea in
popular culture is one that is considered a fringe idea in
quantum physics, saying that the idea sounds too mystical and there
is little reason to support it, and that it is a misconception of what observer means.

In IVA, humans are referred to as
observers. And in an interview they tried to tie this to the quantum
aspect of this. But that is a fairly tenuous connection. In game,
this has very little to do with the quantum idea, other than loosely
saying that observation influences things. And nowhere in game is it
implied to be based on anything quantum. Having more to do of course
with jung's ideas, and the idea of constructed truths, especially
based on experiences. But for the reasons above you can obviously see
that they might have been trying to tie it to that fringe opinion on
quantum observation. Note that relating it to observation and superpositions collapsing into one relating to steven saying that people assign an answer to things without an answer could imply that he was trying to say that until one is assigned all are equally true. However, that line of thought seems odd, since in game the essence of demons does have a definitive state when humans are not observing, and stays the latent spiritual world essence without forming into tangible demons. Unless steven was also referring to the value of divinity.

**Erwin Schrödinger** was a Nobel
Prize-winning Austrian physicist and theoretical biologist who
developed a number of fundamental results in the field of quantum
theory, which formed the basis of wave mechanics: he formulated the
wave equation (stationary and time-dependent Schrödinger equation)
and revealed the identity of his development of the formalism and
matrix mechanics. Schrödinger proposed an original interpretation of
the physical meaning of the wave function. Although known mainly for
his cat thought experiment, megaten also references his general
physics work and its relation to open individualism and his
pantheistic interpretations of it, which is why a cat shows up named
schrodinger in digital devil saga. Schrodinger was inspired heavily
by Hinduism (which dds is based mainly on), considering the general
picture of the concept of brahman close to that which is painted by
modern science. More information about this will show up in the
pantheism page.

**Schrödinger's cat** is a thought
experiment about quantum physics. Erwin Schrödinger suggested it in
1935, in reaction to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum
physics. Schrödinger wrote:

"One can even set up quite
ridiculous cases. A cat is locked up in a steel chamber, along with
the following device (which must be secured against direct
interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter, there is a tiny bit of
radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the
hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability,
perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through
a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic
acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one
would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed.
The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in
it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared
out in equal parts. It is typical of these cases that an
indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes
transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be
resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively
accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing
reality. In itself, it would not embody anything unclear or
contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus
photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks."

What he meant by this was that quantum
superpositions were a bizarre way to imagine macro scale objects, and
must be limited to descriptions of the quantum realm. (Though people
often misinterpret the idea as him saying you should apply this logic
to macro objects) The cat idea of course shows up in digital devil
saga, with a cat named schrodinger. Note that this cat also turns out
to be seraph from apparently another universe (or the future or
something?). Which ironically is a depiction of the same thing being
in multiple states at one time. (note that macro scale objects being
in multiple states is where the idea of multiple quantum universes
comes from). The character schrodinger is both a reference to this,
and to schrodinger's ideas on Hinduism and open individualism.

### OSR and Digital Physics

**Ontic structural realism** is a
general statement that is both epistemic and metaphysical. In the
epistemic sense it refers to the idea that the patterns science
discovers in reality are true patterns. On the metaphysical sense it
is the claim that there are no ‘things’ and that structure is all
there is. So this structure it discovers is fundamental, and not a
relation between “things.” Sometimes the word patterns or process
is used in place of structure. Schrodinger described it with this quote:

"A careful analysis of
the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the
subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only
be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an
experiment and the subsequent measurement."

This may sound bizarre at first. But is based on taking seriously these discoveries of modern quantum physics such as the one from schrodinger above. It is the position both that physics discovers
true things about reality, and that the structures are the basic
aspects of reality. And must be understood as structures instead of
things. The difference here, is that “thing” refers to a self
existing thing that can exist without reference to anything else. But
structure refers to arrangements where what exists only exists in
relation. And you can't make sense of it other than in terms of
relation.

For instance, in modern quantum physics, a fundamental
particle is not a tiny piece of “matter” as classically thought.
Its not a tiny ball. That is an outdated idea from classical physics.
What it is is just a bundle of energy compressed to a single sizeless
point. That's why E = mc2 works. But energy is an abstraction. It is
defined as “capacity for work.” Your capacity for work
necessarily references your surroundings. So there is no individual
element that can be distinguished from its surroundings. Particles
are not even solids. They merely relate into structure which adds up
to skeletal structures that on the large scale we perceive as solids.

The basic layer of reality are quantum
fields. But the fields are merely a system of relation. What exists
in the fields is energy. But energy is just the relations of the
system. Not a “thing.” The energy interacts, which forms
structure. But the structure only exists in context, and still isn't
a “thing” per say. The truth is that quantum physics really is
more counter-intuitive even than many people think. This is
considered compatible with, or a modern analogue to process based
metaphysics, in part since these structural relations in some sense
need to be made sense of in terms of time, due to lacking distinct
substance. This also relates to the fact that since distinct objects
don't exist, that you need to understand things in terms of a larger
whole and its environment.

Although it is true that this
realization is something that the fathers of quantum mechanics
compared with the buddhist metaphysics of sunyata, and the hindu idea
of brahman, (see more in the pantheism section under the schrodinger
entry. Once I make it, that is) and even plato, this is not what
makes it relevant to smt. To see what makes it relevant to smt, see
the digital physics section below.

**Quantum monism** is a modern term
that relates to the scientific understanding of the universe not as
bottom up, but a top down monistic unity that the different aspects
are emanations of. Early scientists working on quantum mechanics like
schrodinger noted that in a quantum sense you could no longer make
sense of the universe as having individual things as building blocks,
but it had to be understood as a single unity that derives from a
single quantum reality. In the modern sense it is associated with the
philosopher jonathan schaffer. This idea applies not only to our
universe and our cosmological horizon, but would even apply to other
universes. This idea is the basis for schrodinger's appearance in
DDS1 and 2, tying to schrodinger describing the world as similar in
nature to the hindu idea of brahman.

Quantum monism is related to osr in that since it is top down rather than bottom up, it considers the smallest structures within reality to not be individual things, but simply internal relational structure of reality.

**Digital physics, Informational**
**Physics**, **pancomputationalism** and **it from bit** are slightly different
terms that refer to part of the modern understanding of quantum
physics interpreted literally. As defined in the above quantum field
theory section, the universe is composed of quantum fields that
energy moves on. What we think of as particles are actually just
bundles of energy. Note that energy is not a “solid” as
classically conceived. Its an abstraction that is just defined as
“potential for work.” And even when bundled it is still not a
solid. Depictions of particles as small balls in high school physics
textbooks are not literal. Actual fundamental particles have no size
or appearance at all, only a location. Note that as stated above,
they can still interact via liking at a distance and structural
relation. This doesn't make it incomprehensible to find out how they
add up to everyday structures.

Note, the important takeaway from this
is that since fundamental particles have no size, they by extension
have no material properties (classical matter does not exist. It is
now only used in science to refer to larger molecule constructs that
are big enough to act like classical matter). Their only properties
are informational / data / mathematical properties. Because a
particular bundle of energy in a location is nothing but numbers that
represent conserved quantized properties. These can be fully
represented and are referred to as a particle's Quantum numbers.

The above part of this entry is the standard understanding of modern physics. The universe is composed literally of something we
can think of as more analogous to data than anything else. When
digital devil saga and record breaker were stating this in-game, this
was not fantasy logic, but actual depictions of the most up to date
physics, taken literally. It uses the more ambiguous word data in
game, since information has a specific definition in physics. And
while it is true that for practical purposes the universe seems to
reduce to information, its not entirely clear that the numerical
properties of fundamental particles are identical to physical
information.

So the analogous yet different word data was used
in-game. Though in physics proper, they do not generally discuss this
that often, since the physical ontology is not what they are
generally concerned with, but rather the practical math of their
relations. And there are already a slew of terms from classical
physics that remain in current use to cover most of what it is they
are discussing. (note the similarity of this modern discovery to
ancient pythagoreanism, one of he first philosophy schools).

the distinction between digital and
informational physics has to do with whether fundamental particles
are mere numbers in the system, or more like information that is not
necessary numerical. It from bit refers to either of the ideas.
pancomputationalism s a view that the universe is a huge
computational machine, or rather a network of computational processes
which, following fundamental physical laws, computes (dynamically
develops) its own next state from the current one. This actually
raises the question of whether there would be much of a difference
even of living in a simulation versus the “real” world. A
question brought up in digital devil saga.

This concept of course is compatible
with and feeds into the above one of ontic structural realism. Since
of course “information” is not really a distinct thing, but
something that only makes sense within the structural relations of
the larger system. Note that this also can relate to process
philosophy. Since these structural relations exist via emergent
properties of relation over time, due to the fact that the properties
of relation require a description of movement, and systemic
relations.

This also relates to the fact that since information flow
in terms of a global system only makes sense in terms of the larger
picture, that you need to understand things in terms of a larger
whole and its environment. This is something that led many of the
founders of quantum mechanics to be interested in eastern philosophy
and a kind of secular pantheism. Note that the pantheistic leanings
of the fathers of quantum mechanics is referenced explicitly in
digital devil saga, where the cat is named Schrodinger. More
information about this will show up in the separate pantheism page.

One last thing to mention about this is
that if physics reduces to information, and dimensions are just types
of information, then theoretically, like with the above things about
how in strange journey even the demonic realms are considered
physical, there's technically nothing logically impossible about a
world existing that doesn't have space as we normally understand it,
but still corresponds to what we think of as types of physical rules
(different from the ones in our universe obviously).

Of course such
an idea is so alien that there's not much we can say about it. In
strange journey the different areas in the Schwarzwelt are defined by
different “quantum coordinates,” which implies that the normal
four dimensional spaces like ours within it are separated by some
type of abstract thing that is incomprehensible to humans, despite
still being based on some kind of physical data. Maybe one that lacks
space entirely as we normally understand it.

This goes back to the fact that in the
series at large, even in games that do not explicitly say that the
world is made out of data, demons seem to be summoned using data.
Implying that there's some kind of continuum between data in the
computer sense, and the real world, and the demon world. Meaning that
its just a case of certain demonic data finding a means to interact
with our world in a way that can convert to data our world is capable
of holding. DDS2 and devil survivor 2 as well as smt imagine all mention this focus of the world at large being composed of data. Likewise, in strange journey, demons are shown to be made out of data before you can see them in a coherent form. And in soul hackers 2, they are shown to be as such when dying. With the idea of data or information being equated to the spiritual in general.

### Quantum Non individuality

**Quantum non individuality** is
something that while counter-intuitive has been proven by statistics
applied to quantum mechanics. What it means is relatively simple to
express though. Namely, that the universe doesn't consider particles
to be distinct things. Merely “amount” of thing in a place. Like
if you added 1+1 on a calculator, and got 2, then later subtracted 1,
the calculator isn't subtracting either particular one. Its jsut
subtracting 1.

This actually has some important
revoutionary implications for physics. Namely, that you can't make
sense of things' identity merely by their basic building blocks,
since there is no fundamental distinction between buiding blocks.
Just a universal system that counts how many it can make use of. So
individual identity has to be made sense of in terms of its
structural relations, or perhaps the process that flows from one
structure to another. And on some level, perhaps as a construct of
the whole. Like the above things, this is one of the things that led
schrodinger towards the idea that you can only make sense of reality
in terms of the big picture. Since individual identity only exist as
part of the system. (other things that feed into that idea are
quantum entanglement where two particles can only be described as a
single system that can effect eachoher even at a large distance).

Although this association was likely
not on purpose, this can also explain in a sense why you can summon
or generate new demons out of two unrelated ones. Because its more
about it taking on the right form, than about its past building
blocks. Of course demonic fusion also implies that it retains some of
the essence of the old demons or people at times. But this is also
because it retains their forms, as well as their process feeding from
the past into the present. This all adds together into an ambiguous
mix humans are not really meant to be able to understand. But which
to demons is more or less normal.

### Implicate and explicate order

**Implicate order** and **explicate**
order **are ontological concepts for quantum theory coined by**
theoretical physicist David Bohm during the early 1980s. They are
used to describe two different frameworks for understanding the same
phenomenon or aspect of reality. In particular, the concepts were
developed in order to explain the bizarre behavior of subatomic
particles – behavior difficult to explain by quantum physics.

In his book Wholeness and the Implicate
Order, Bohm uses these notions to describe how the same phenomenon
might look different, or might be characterized by different
principal factors, in different contexts such as at different scales.
The implicate order, also referred to as the "enfolded"
order, is seen as a deeper and more fundamental order of reality. In
contrast, the explicate or "unfolded" order include the
abstractions that humans normally perceive. And an important aspect
is that the folded order works like a system. What we see as
individual particles and energy don't work bottom up, but are really
just parts of the system. As he writes:

In the enfolded [or implicate] order,
space and time are no longer the dominant factors determining the
relationships of dependence or independence of different elements.
Rather, an entirely different sort of basic connection of elements is
possible, from which our ordinary notions of space and time, along
with those of separately existent material particles, are abstracted
as forms derived from the deeper order. These ordinary notions in
fact appear in what is called the "explicate" or "unfolded"
order, which is a special and distinguished form contained within the
general totality of all the implicate orders.

The notion of implicate and explicate
orders like many of the other aspects of physics emphasizes the
primacy of **structure** and **process** over individual objects. The
latter are seen as mere approximations of an underlying process. In
this approach, quantum particles and other objects are understood to
have only a limited degree of stability and autonomy.

What this means most basically is that
the true nature of reality may have a more folded perspective. And
what we see is the unfolded perspective. As a metaphor, he gives the
idea of a tv signal as the true nature, and the picture on a tv as
its unfolded order. We live on scales where we see only the unfolded
order.

This description is fairly apt as a
description of the data streams in record breaker. They even mention
how the triagulum (like eveything else) exists on two levels. As data
in the data stream of the astrolabe, and out in the world. Although
its not really meant to mean two distinct locations, but rather two
perspectives of what is going on. Note that the idea of unfolded
order here is being combined with that of the physical world as data.
But in physics the idea of unfolded order is not as common as the
latter. But due to the fact that space as we know it is not as real
as we imagine due to our perception of it being effected by
relativity, the idea has interesting applications, even if not always
used by name.

Its possible that one could also imply
that this type of thing has to do with the demonic worlds in other
games also. Perhaps the Schwarzwelt is comprised of spaces that are
not unfolded for the mot part, with only a few unfolded ones being
the areas people are able to go to. Since demons in record breaker
are when not summoned depicted as things that exist in the data of
the folded order, this can be implied to be something that may carry
over and be a way we are meant to loosely see it in other games.
Obviously though the idea of implicate and explicate order is not a
religious idea, one can compare it to various religious ideas about
the “true” reality behind the world of appearances. Though the
point is not that the unfolded order is false, but rather that it is
less fundamental.

Though of course, as always, some of
the things in game are meant to be ambiguous on purpose. Because
humans are not necessarily meant to totally “get” how demons
work.

## Parralels with classical eastern metaphysics

**The Tao of Physics** is a book
written by a physicist detailing the parallels between physics and
eastern philosophy and mysticism. Note that many of these same
associations were earlier found by the founders of quantum mechanics,
leading them to relate the idea to eastern philosophy themselves,
leading to a long though obscure history of this. Unfortunately, a
lot of new age groups found out about this and began taking it out of
context for various reasons. The parallels obviously are not 1:1, but
there are some interesting parallels, and which led the founders of
quantum mechanics to a kind of pantheistic vision of the world.

Obviously this has heavy importance for megaten, because megaten is
heavily trying to bridge the gap between religion and modern physical understandings of things, implying that it has truths that correspond
to inner realities of the world, even if not being literally true.
And despite its main demonic characters who show up in the plots
being western ones, its worldview and metaphysics is actually a bit
more eastern. The book talks about more things than this, and many
other things can be made as associations that have been made by other
physicists, but we will limit to the most relevant pieces.

**1: The underlying unity and interpenetration of all things.** Unlike classical physics which
believed that individual objects simply existed in a backdrop of
space, modern physics believe they exist in context of the universal
system on quantum fields, and that you can only make sense of things
in terms of larger relation. Which is why like above making sense of
individual things is based on their structure or process rather than
substance, since they aren't individual things, but patterns within
the larger reality.. This also relates to the idea that we shouldn't
really see reality as building blocks that add up to larger things,
because since both the small and large scales are structural
relations, its not clear that the small scale is really “more
fundamental.” Likewise, things we see as different aspects of
reality are being worked together under the assumption of a unifying
theory. And many physicists argue that every part of reality may have
information about every other part. Since for instance entanglement
may be universal. In taoism, everything is both part of the tao, but
it is also the dynamic pattern of laws of the universe.

**2: The unity of seeming opposites.**
Taoism especially, and buddhism to a lesser extend has content
relating to how things that seem to be opposites may be aspects of a
larger unity. Which is what the concepts of yin and yang relate to.
An obvious example being wave particle duality. These seemed to be
opposing things til they were realized to be aspects of the same
thing. Seemingly contradictory yet it was both at once. Likewise,
movement and rest seem different, yet relativity theory showed that
they are the same thing, just based on different reference frames.
And ultimately even particles and energy. Even existence and
nonexistence to some degree. (Though that is only because what we
previously thought was nothing is actually a more tangible field and
spacetime structure).

**3: The illusory nature of space and time.** Common in most eastern philosophy is the idea that space and
time are in some sense illusions. Our understanding of it being a
construct of our own minds. This is true in various ways in physics.
For one, space and time are really seemingly part of one structure
called space time that functions different from our everyday
intuitions. For another, space itself exists only in a relative way,
as does time, shown by einstein. How fast you move relative to
something or where you are effects not only its relative structure of
space from your perspective, but also you can even see two events as
not in any particular order, as long as they are outside of
eachother's light cones. (meaning there's no line of causality
between them. Obviously it doesn't apply if there is). This may tie
to bohm's ideas of implicate order, saying that the structure we see
is an unfolded order of a more hard to quantify reality that we can
only mathematically measure indirectly.

This isn't to say that space and time
are not real at all. Just that what they are is very different from
anything like our everyday understanding. And its true nature is so
alien we can only measure its effects via objects relative structural
relations with eachother. Though some theories of physics do pot them
as entirely illusory.

**4: The dynamic nature of reality**.
Classical western philosophy often assumed that change is something
that static objects underwent. In contrast, eastern philosophy often
had a process based ontology, that held a flowing nature a necessary
aspect of existence. Concepts like brahman and tao inherently had a
connotation of flowingness to them. And some buddhism denied the
nature of tangible materials things as accurate. Samsara even
translates to wandering or cycle, implying an endless process. This
shows up in modern physics where in place of classical matter, the
fundamental nature of reality is structure, which when spread across
time can be considered process. What's more, a snapshot of the
universe is in some sense incomprehensible on principle, because it
would give absolute locations for particles, which necessarily exist
in superposition and unable to have both an absolute location and
velocity together.

The fact that process is more
fundamental than substance ties back to #1. Since processes by nature
flow into eachother in an endless cycle, making things necessarily
interpreted in a more big picture sense. This idea is also explored
in process philosophy, and osr. What we see as static objects is in a
sense an illusion. In hinduism this cosmic process is symbolized by
the dance of shiva. The never-ending movement of reality. Another
parralel is drawn in book to how this dynamic process is not wholly
chaotic, but forms into symmetrical regularities. And buddhist
symbols like the mandala or the symbol of the ying yang show parralel
symmetris of kinds in reality.

**5: Emptiness and form**. In some
buddhism emptiness and form are conflated together as not as
different as they seem. This shows up in modern physics in that
classical matter is nonexistant, and is only an emergent phenomena of
perception. However, modern quantum physics holds that what exists
are universal fields. These abstract empty fields of relation are
basically just systems of energy relation. And all that is on them is
energy. Which is “capacity for work.” An abstract object that
isn't a solid, just a fact about that part of the field. This relates into structure, but ultimately these
structures are “empty” in that what is relating is zero
dimensional points. So there is no actual substantive solid underling
them. And so like buddhist texts say, in some sense “form is
emptiness and emptiness is form.” For information about how
fundamental particles aren't really solids, scroll back up to the
ontic structural realism section.

## Meteorology

**Meteorology** is a branch of the atmospheric sciences which includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics, with a major focus on weather forecasting. There is one important reference from it that shows up in strange journey alongside the physics references. Namely that all of the ships are named after electrical weather phenomena.

A Sprite is an electrical discharge that resembles a reddish-orange flash, referenced in the Red Sprite.

A Blue Jet is different from sprites in that they project from
the top of the cumulonimbus above a thunderstorm, typically in a narrow
cone, to the lowest levels of the ionosphere.

The Elve is named after ELVES, which often appear as a dim,
flattened, expanding glow around 400 km (250 mi) in diameter that lasts
for, typically, just one millisecond. ELVES is a whimsical acronym for **E**missions of **L**ight and **V**ery Low Frequency Perturbations due to **E**lectromagnetic Pulse **S**ources.

The Lightning of course, is self-explanatory.

The Gigantic is named after gigantic jets, which as their name implies are abnormally large jets.

## Astronomy

**Astronomy** is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and comets.

In strange journey, the areas of the schwarzwelt are all named after different constellations. Similarly, in devil survivor 2, the main bosses are all named after the stars of ursa minor, with polaris being another name for the north star. In the second campaign, the three bosses are the three stars that make up the spring triangle. These stars form parts of a larger Spring asterism called the Great Diamond together with Cor Caroli. Canopus is the second brightest star in the night sky after sirius.