I think part of the problem is different scenes of the word “reduce”. Consider the following two statements:
1) All things ultimately reduce to quarks (nitpick: and leptons)
2) Quarks and leptons ultimately reduce to quantum wave functions.
3) Quantum wave functions ultimately reduce to mathematics.
4) All mathematics ultimately reduces to the ZFC axioms.
Notice that all these statements are true (I’m not quite sure about the first one) for slightly different values of “reduces”.
I think part of the problem is different scenes of the word “reduce”. Consider the following two statements:
1) All things ultimately reduce to quarks (nitpick: and leptons)
2) Quarks and leptons ultimately reduce to quantum wave functions.
3) Quantum wave functions ultimately reduce to mathematics.
4) All mathematics ultimately reduces to the ZFC axioms.
Notice that all these statements are true (I’m not quite sure about the first one) for slightly different values of “reduces”.