In order for any complexity to arise in any system there simply must exist fundamental relationships. Mathematics is, of course, the language of relationships. The complexity of our universe necessarily arises out of mathematical relationships, however our universe is comprised of more than relationships; its structure extends beyond the realms of math.
The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Holographic Universe principals, and all other notions akin to “all properties of the universe are mathematical in nature” display profound misunderstandings about the capacity and nature of mathematics, as well as its relationship to physics. Such musings are novel but it’s not physics; it’s rhetoric, intractable abstraction. Mathematics is an expression indulgence of relationships.
Mathematics alone is not capable of possessing the properties observed within our universe. The photoelectric effect and culmination of other nuances within our realm demand inherent structure.
To demonstrate a point, the question “what is gravity?” amounts to a purely scientific inquiry. That’s a 100% scientific question. Unfortunately, we’re never gonna get a scientific answer out of that, directly. All we can do with science is explain the relationships; how it works, interacts, evolves, relates. -those things are defined. We can then take that understanding, culminate it into a model, and infer such and such out of it…physics isn’t gonna tell us everything directly, can’t.
The structure of particles is no different; we can answer a lot of things, but the universe has no classification for a sample of it. Science just connects the dots for us; the picture we get out of it is slightly removed from what pure science can tell us. Know how philosophy is an integral part of science? -that’s why! The universe CAN’T define certain things for us; Mother Nature is a physicist not a philosopher, and “what is” is philosophy. Running out of definitions the universe can offer us is not running out of things to define. Translating that circumstance into “it’s all math” is remedial.