Hi Blaine,

Good points.

Related questions are is whether we need the physical constituents themselves, or whether the “pattern” or “relations” are enough, such as water wave at a different level of abstraction than the constituent water molecules.

Viewing from a quantum perspective, only probabilities exist. And even that is hard to define since what exactly is the underlying quantum wavefunction, when squared, that leads to those probabilities? Or are these just mathematical abstractions?

Kevin