In recent months, two of the most influential living physicists have made remarkably clear statements: Gerard ’t Hooft and Roger Penrose have publicly declared that they consider quantum theory in its present form to be fundamentally wrong — particularly its central concept of superposition.
In a recent interview, Gerard ’t Hooft stated bluntly that the idea of real superposition is “nonsense”. Roger Penrose, in a conversation with Curt Jaimungal, went even further: he regards the collapse of the wave function as a real physical process and is convinced that a future, correct theory will no longer require the principle of superposition.
Anyone familiar with the Panvitalistic Theory (PVT) will immediately recognize that these statements echo precisely the problems the PVT has been addressing axiomatically for years.
What ’t Hooft and Penrose are Criticizing
Both Nobel laureates see a deep structural flaw in quantum theory. Penrose in particular repeatedly emphasizes the inconsistency of the external time parameter in the Schrödinger equation. He considers general relativity to be “more right” than quantum theory because it at least attempts to treat space and time as dynamic and relational — even if it has not yet fully eliminated external time.
This is exactly where the Panvitalistic Theory begins.
While Penrose and ’t Hooft are still searching for a mechanism that would render superposition unnecessary, the PVT takes a more radical step: it does not try to “prove” superposition wrong. It shows that superposition never existed as a fundamental principle.
What appears as superposition in standard quantum mechanics is merely a projection artefact of a higher-dimensional, timeless geometry onto our familiar 3D+1D description.
In the PVT there are no real superposed states. There are only rational 6D volume comparisons under the single constraint δV = 0. The apparent collapse of the wave function is not a mysterious non-unitary operation, but the geometric reduction of the 12D state space once one internal degree of freedom is fixed as a reference.
The Radical Consequence
The PVT therefore solves not only the measurement problem and the problem of time at the axiomatic level — it also makes understandable why distinguished physicists like ’t Hooft and Penrose intuitively feel that quantum theory is wrong: because it rests on an ontologically inconsistent foundation — the external linear time parameter.
While Penrose regards general relativity as “more correct”, the PVT goes one step further: it shows that even general relativity has not yet fully overcome external time. Quantum theory, however, builds its entire dynamics solely on this external time parameter — and that is precisely why it is irrational at its core.
A New Standard
The statements by ’t Hooft and Penrose are not marginal remarks. They are a clear sign that even within the established physics community, unease with standard quantum mechanics is growing. At the same time, they also show how difficult it is to truly abandon the principle of superposition as long as one remains trapped in mechanistic or semi-classical thinking.
The Panvitalistic Theory offers exactly this radical step: it does not reject superposition by inventing a new mechanism, but by making an ontological correction at the root. It replaces external time with internal angular curvature (π ≡ T/L) and thereby renders superposition superfluous — not by explanation, but by dissolution.
Whether the scientific community will eventually follow this step remains to be seen. Yet the fact that even Nobel laureates such as ’t Hooft and Penrose now openly declare quantum theory in its present form to be wrong suggests that the time for a fundamental re-foundation may be closer than many think.
Links to the interviews:
- Gerard ’t Hooft : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsSJPLX-BTA
- Roger Penrose : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGm505TFMbU