The self-defeating nature of a total theory. A "Theory of Everything" in physics seeks to unify all fundamental forces. But the hard problem is that even a perfect physical theory would not explain everything—it wouldn't explain why those particular laws exist, why there is something rather than nothing, the nature of consciousness, meaning, ethics, or beauty. More paradoxically, if a human brain is just a system obeying those physical laws, then the theory itself—and our belief in it—is just a predetermined output of the system. This undermines the very rationality and truth-seeking that produced the theory. Ultimate explanation swallows itself.
Example: Imagine physicists finally write the equation of the Theory of Everything on a blackboard. The hard problem: That equation cannot explain why it, itself, is aesthetically beautiful to the physicists. It cannot explain the feeling of awe they have. It cannot justify why logical consistency is a valid path to truth. It is a description of a meaningless clockwork, in which the clockwork's own description of itself is just another gear turning. A complete theory of the physical world leaves out the theorist, creating a Grand Explanation from which the explainer is mysteriously absent. Hard Problem of Everything.
by Enkigal January 24, 2026
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