Once we imagined that the world was made of atoms. Our children are now taught that it is made of fundamental particles, quarks, leptons and bosons. Then again particles themselves disappear in contemporary physics leaving us with fields, and energy. But what are these made of? Some talk of relations, information and mathematics. It seems we have lost the stuff of the universe and found nothing else in its place.

Should we just give up on physical stuff altogether? Should we recognise that it is not possible to provide an account of ultimate bits and just make use of our theories to achieve our goals? Or can we imagine that we might finally come up with an answer and know once and for all what the universe is made of?

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