Before we begin the investigation, we must identify our starting point.
Please answer the equation below:
What just happened here? What did we prove by answering that simple equation?
We proved that Reality has rules. These rules are not opinions. They are the Immovable Laws that hold the universe together.
TAP TO REVEAL THE DEFINITIONS
A thing is itself (A=A).
For "1+1=2" to work, "1" must actually mean "1" and not "3" or "banana." You are you. I am me. 1=1. 2=2.
Nothing can be both True and False at the same time.
"1+1" cannot equal "2" and "not 2" at once. Contradictions are impossible. We cannot exist and not exist at the same time.
There is no "Sort of."
In reality something either IS or IS NOT. There is no middle ground between Truth and False. 1+1 either equals 2 or it does not. Reality is binary.
Every effect has a sufficient cause.
"2" doesn't appear "just because." It is the necessary result of 1+1. Reality does not permit "magic." If we do not have 1+1 we will never, ever get 2. If something is, there is a sufficient reason why.
If these laws were not constant, AI, our phones, and our computers would not continue to function.
Though they would not simply cease to function—they would function and not function. They would be, maybe, and not be. All of these words would mean nothing, everything, and %#kL7!zX9?, and it would all be "just because" at the same time.
We have arrived at the first gate. Before we move forward, we must make an agreement — a pact of honest inquiry.
We are about to follow a chain of logic that underpins the universe. We cannot bring our preferences with us. We cannot bring our feelings about what reality should be. We can only bring our reason.
If you agree, the door is open. If not, we cannot continue, for we have no common language with which to speak.