What is the true nature of reality?

I want to start off by saying that I am just a regular dude. I am not a scientist or physicist, I am just a curious individual. 😄

I have been very interested in quantum mechanics for the last 15 years or so. It has often become the subject of many late night drunk conversations with friends and family, and I am always on the lookout for new or different ideas on the subject.

There have been tons of experiments, and thought experiments that have given me some interesting perspective on the true nature of reality, but today I want to focus on two:

The double slit experiment:

The double slit experiment is where either a photon or a particle of mass such as an electronic is shot through a sheet of metal that has two slits in it, and projected onto a background. The above photo is that background. How is it possible that it could show many vertical lines on the background if there are only two slits in the sheet of metal? The answer is that these particles can be both a single particle or a wave, depending on the circumstances.

This duel possibility leads me to this second experiment:

Schrodinger's cat

Schrodinger's thought experiment is an excellent example for quantum superposition. This is the idea that all matter and light around us, indeed all types of particles are always both here, and not here, at the same time.

Thoughts:

After pondering these experiments I began to imagine particles as being able to pop into existence, and back out again, depending on if those particles were being observed. This was the way I thought of superposition for years, but recently I have begun to think of it differently.

I now think that our reality is more like a cloud of information. We are all part of this cloud. Your pc, your couch, that salad you had, and even these words you are reading online, are all part of one giant cloud of information, and the only reason it is taking the shape you see, is because we are observing that information and shaping that information. We are forcing these particles to snap into one of it's infinite probable states. Particles are not popping in and out of existence, they are always there in one form or another, and is not until we observe or interact with them that they snap out of superposition.

The nature of reality is one of the most fascinating things to me, and this theory seems absolutely possible. But it could also turn out to be complete bullshit, and I am open to the discussion. 😉

If you read this, thank you! And please do comment down below!