Imagine you sit down and pick up your favorite book.
To you, the book is made up of a range of sensory appearances.
But you also expect the book has its own independent existence behind those appearances.
This view of the world is responsible for much of our scientific advancement since the 17th century.
Instead, Rovelli argues we should adopt a relational worldview.
What does it mean to be relational?
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Newton claimed space and time acted like a container for the contents of the universe.
This is the absolute view of space and time.
If we removed the contents of the universe, we would remove space and time also.
The relational view of space and time was a key inspiration for Einstein when he developed general relativity.
Rovelli makes use of this idea to understand quantum mechanics.
Together they make up an objects state.
So how does this help us understand quantum theory?
Consider the well-known quantum puzzle of Schrodingers cat.
The quantum process is a chance event.
In the relational interpretation, there isno global, Gods eye view of reality.
What does this tell us about reality?
Rovelli argues that, since our world is ultimately quantum, we should heed these lessons.
Thankfully, that also includes all other objects, such as your coffee table.
Even so, this is a dramatic rethinking of the nature of reality.
Moreover, there may well be no independent metaphysical substance constituting our reality that underlies this web.
As Rovelli puts it:
We are nothing but images of images.
