Let’s start at the bottom. Axioms are assumptions that form the basis of a Theory. These axioms will not be defended here. The Theory simply takes the form “If these axioms are true, then here’s what follows.”

After much contemplation, my philosophy currently rests on 3 axioms:

A. Stuff exists

B. Patterns are real

C. Things change

A. When I say “stuff exists”, I mean that the term “existence” will be confined to physical stuff, like trees, atoms, photons, etc. I will have more to say on existence when I write about ontology. In contrast, abstractions like numbers do not “exist”, but then

B. Patterns are real. This wording originally derived from Daniel Dennett’s paper “Real Patterns”, but I have come to understand that my use is broader to the point of being platonic (small p). Patterns are simply specific abstractions. Patterns are “mind independent”. The natural numbers are real whether or not anything exists to understand them. Now some patterns are discernible in physical things, and all physical things display discernible patterns. For example, the number three is discernible in three apples sitting on a table. For everything that exists, there is a pattern which completely and uniquely describes that thing, but then

C. Things change. As a framework for this axiom we use David Deutsch’s and Chiara Marletto’s Constructor Theory which says that all physical theories can be expressed in terms of which physical transformations (changes) can be made to happen, which cannot, and why. Thus, all of physics is about how things change.

So what do these axioms do for us? Read on and stay tuned.