From Abigail Beall at New Scientist:
We thought electrons and their two mysterious siblings were fundamental particles. Now there are hints that we need to go smaller still to understand matter
But the truly inexplicable thing about the electron is that it has two heavier siblings. The universe would tick along fine without these particles, which never hang around long anyway. So why do they exist? And why are there three siblings, not four or 104? More.
There may be, we are told, “a hidden world buzzing beneath the surface of the electron – one that would force us to rethink all the fundamental building blocks of matter.”
Interesting questions: Why do so many things come in threes? Stability?
Also, could there be an infinite regress of hidden worlds? Probably not because it would be a spatial problem equivalent to Hilbert’s Hotel as to why the universe is not infinitely backward in time.
See also: Mae-Wan Ho (1941–2016) on electrons and consciousness