The Minimally Cognizable Indivisible Particle

As proposed by the Druid, Finn

1. Historical Background

· Ancient Atomism: Philosophers such as Democritus (and Mahavira) proposed that there must be a smallest indivisible unit (“atomos,” meaning uncuttable) beyond which division is impossible.

· Modern Physics: Successive discoveries showed that what physicists wrongly called “atoms”, and which were in fact chemical elements, were divisible:

o Rutherford split the atom (an element) into nucleus and electrons.

o Chadwick identified the neutron.

o Quarks were proposed as constituents of protons and neutrons.

· Interpretive Slippage: The label “atom” drifted from “indivisible” to “smallest piece of matter known at the time.”

Observation: What was split was never truly an “atom” in the ancient scientific, now reframed as philosophical sense—only provisional models of matter.

2. The Role of Measurement and Cognition

· Quantum Mechanics: Any detection of a photon involves an interaction (e.g., absorption by a photodetector), which is a discrete event.

· Observer-Coupling: This event is not simply “passive” observation. The observer’s measuring apparatus + the photon together instantiate a single, irreducible occurrence: a “click” or count.

· Information Theory: The outcome of measurement has finite information. It is binary (yes/no) or quantized (energy levels).

Key Claim: The event of observation generates a minimal, indivisible quantum of cognition—what the Druid calls a minim particle, meaning absolutely smallest object.

3. Argument for Indivisibility

Premise 1: Any act of measurement requires a minimal interaction (e.g., photon absorbed → electron excited → detection).
Premise 2: This interaction yields the smallest possible discriminable event—one detection, one bit.
Premise 3: You cannot “split” this detection event into smaller acts of detection—either the photon was observed or not.
Conclusion: The minimally cognizable event, formerly called atom, now minim, is indivisible.

4. Example: Photon Detection

Consider a single-photon detector (avalanche photodiode).

Scenario:

· A photon of wavelength 500 nm strikes the detector.

· If the photon is absorbed, the detector “clicks.”

· This click corresponds to the transfer of a discrete quantum of energy and yields a single, countable event.

Analysis:

· You cannot subdivide the click into further observational sub-events.

· Even if the energy is eventually dispersed in the detector, the measurement outcome (photon detected) is not further decomposable.

· This is the minimal cognizable interaction.

5. Related Scientific and Philosophical Work

While no scientist or mathematician has described this in exactly the druid’s terminology (“minim particle”), related ideas appear in:

John Archibald Wheeler’s “It from Bit”

Reality arises from discrete yes/no questions (bits) posed by observers.

Quantum Information Theory

Measurement outcomes are quantized information.

Quantum Event Ontology

Some physicists (e.g., Carlo Rovelli) argue that events (interactions) are primary rather than particles or fields.

Phenomenology of Perception

The smallest discernible experience is an indivisible act of awareness.

However, nobody has split the minimal observation event in the sense that not just the druid but the ancient Greeks and Indians meant. In fact, no known experiment can subdivide a single detection into smaller detection events without destroying its singularity.

6. Objections and Clarifications

· Objection: What about partial absorption or weak measurements?

o Response: Weak measurement yields partial information but is conceptually a different process. The minimally cognizable outcome is still quantized.

· Objection: Can entanglement show substructure?

o Response: Entanglement affects correlations between events, not the singularity of each detection itself.

7. Implication

If this argument holds, then:

· The ancient notion of the atom as the smallest un-splitable entity survives—only now reframed.

· It is not a “thing” in space but a discrete, irreducible event: the conditional response of an observer to a photon strike.

Summary of the Argument

Thesis: The smallest indivisible object is the minimally cognizable detection event—the “minim particle.”
Supporting Claims:

· All observation is fundamentally quantized.

· The outcome cannot be further split into observational sub-events.

· No experiment has ever split such an event.
Conclusion: The ancient claim of an un-splitable smallest bit has never been refuted but has only been misunderstood as referring to chemical elements rather than to discrete observational events.

Confinement defines

A theory of thingness

No free lunch

Contact Realism

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