Solipsistic Physics

A Universe-of-One

by Todd B. Smith, PhD

What if your mind were the only one that truly exists? Modern physics has been moving toward the observer for a century. This book takes that thread and pulls it all the way—rebuilding quantum mechanics, spacetime, and cosmology around a single perspective. Not as metaphor, but as architecture.

Solipsistic Physics
A Universe-of-One
Todd B. Smith, PhD

A Thought Experiment in Physics

Modern physics has quietly been moving toward the observer for a century. Quantum mechanics collapses when you look. Spacetime is relative to your motion. Information is what you can extract. The universe seems to exist in relation to measurement.

This book takes that thread and pulls it all the way.

Starting from solipsism—the idea that only your own mind is certain—it rebuilds physics around a single observer. Not as metaphor, but as architecture. What does quantum mechanics look like when there's genuinely one perspective? What is spacetime when it's woven around a single worldline? Where does the information paradox go when there's no "outside" to count bits?

Each chapter takes a cornerstone of modern physics and asks: what if this was always about you?

Chapter Overview

Part I — Theoretical Framework
01
No Reality Without a Witness
How modern physics already hints at observer-centrality—from relational quantum mechanics to black hole complementarity
02
Solipsistic Spacetime
Building geometry around a single worldline—what if the universe were your navigation app?
03
Breaking Symmetry
Why only one mind exists in this framework—rigging the cosmic rules for a single player
04
Consciousness as a Field
A placeholder for awareness in the equations—the flashlight that brings reality into focus
Part II — Applications
05
Black Holes and Horizons
How the information paradox dissolves when there's only one observer to tell the story
06
Dreams, Imagination, and Memory
Internal experience in a universe-of-one—where does the dream world go when you wake?
07
Evaluation
Coherence, limitations, and the unfalsifiability problem—is this physics or poetry?
08
Cosmology
Inflation, dark energy, and fine-tuning reinterpreted—every galaxy shines for your eyes alone
09
The Big Bang
Cosmic origins as the birth of the observer—the universe opening its eyes for the first time
Part III — Reflections
Reflections
What we built, what it achieves, and what questions remain unanswered

What You'll Explore

🔬

Observer-Dependent Physics

Quantum mechanics, QBism, and Wheeler's participatory universe already place the observer at center stage. What if we took that seriously?

🕳️

Black Hole Paradoxes

The information paradox arises from conflicting observer descriptions. With only one observer, the conflict dissolves.

🌌

Fine-Tuning Reframed

Why are the constants of nature perfect for life? In a universe-of-one, they're not coincidence—they're necessity.

💭

Dreams as Reality

If experience is fundamental, what distinguishes waking perception from dreams? Less than you might think.

Available Now

Kindle
$9.99

Read instantly on any device with the Kindle app

Buy on Amazon

Also available through Kindle Unlimited

About Todd B. Smith

Todd B. Smith holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Central Florida, where his graduate work explored the abstract structures underlying modern physics. After teaching mathematics at the college level, he transitioned into software engineering and currently leads Android development at Disney, building apps used by millions of guests.

This book grew from years of late-night reading at the intersection of physics, philosophy, and consciousness studies—a personal exploration of how far observer-dependence can be pushed while remaining internally consistent. It makes no claims to revolutionary physics, only to an interesting thought experiment.

He lives in Massachusetts.

Ready to question reality?

Explore how physics might look from a universe-of-one.

Get the Book