Either. You cant have anything till another thing shows up. That’s the problem. If there’s just one thing you cant say where it is or what it is. You cant say how big it is or how small or what color it is or how much it weighs. You cant say if it is. Nothing is anything unless there’s another thing. So we have you. Well. Do we?
Relationalism and uncertaintyThe part about names and in particular the part asserting "You cant have anything till another thing shows up" is an expression of one of the three basic tenets of quantum mechanics.The other two are granularity and indeterminacy (uncertainty).
The principle is that quantum theory does not describe things as they “are”: it describes how things “occur,” and how they “interact with each other.” It doesn’t describe where there is a particle but how the particle shows itself to others. The world of existent things is reduced to a realm of possible
interactions. Reality is reduced to interaction. Reality is reduced to relation. See Carlo Rovelli, "Reality is not what it seems..." At p 134.
This aspect describes many other interesting events in the book.
