View source for Alistair Riddoch

{{Infobox scientist
| name = Alistair Riddoch
| alt = Alistair Riddoch
| fields = [[Physics]], [[Cosmology]]
| known_for = Planck Mechanical Theory
}}

'''Alistair Riddoch''' is an independent researcher who has proposed a mechanical model of the universe he calls '''Planck Mechanical Theory''', in which the whole of physical reality is built from a single, immutable geometric "building block". He presented the model to the John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society (CNPS) in October 2020.

==Scientific contributions==
Riddoch's Planck Mechanical Theory is a single-component, purely mechanical account of existence. In his own description of the model, he says he "found a building block" and suggests that "if you put a ton of them together, and spin them all rapidly, then leave them alone to settle things on their own, they will together generate and host an existence that will exactly match the existence we experience, observe, detect and measure. With no other inclusions needed."

The proposed building block is not an arbitrary abstraction: Riddoch specifies its shape and mathematics exactly. The form is obtained by mapping an Einsteinian gravity-wave topology onto a perfect regular sphere, using a wavelength equal to one quarter of the sphere's radius. The resulting object is held to be absolutely immutable and unchanging, and it is the only component the theory admits — there are no additional fields, particles, forces or constants introduced alongside it. Everything else, in this view, is emergent: structure, matter and the observed behaviour of nature arise from large numbers of these identical units in rapid rotational motion, allowed to settle into their own equilibrium. Riddoch summarises the whole programme as "Building Blocks… Motion… Patience… Existence."

Riddoch is explicit about the all-or-nothing character of the proposal. As he puts it, the theory "is either an incorrect guess, as to the composition of reality… or the right complete, exhaustive, and ultimate answer… It is not something in between." This framing places the work squarely in the tradition of mechanical and constructive natural philosophy favoured by CNPS researchers, which seeks a concrete physical substrate underlying quantum and relativistic phenomena rather than accepting abstract mathematical formalism as the final description of nature.

==CNPS talks==
He has presented in the CNPS online seminar series:
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtVfFQ4PBSA "Planck Mechanical Theory"] (10 October 2020)

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtVfFQ4PBSA CNPS livestream: Planck Mechanical Theory with Alistair Riddoch]

[[Category:Scientist|Riddoch Alistair]]
[[Category:Cosmology|Riddoch Alistair]]