52 Examples of Physical Things

John Spacey, October 30, 2022

Physical things are objects and systems that are composed of matter. This can be contrasted with intangible things that have no physical manifestation such as an idea or culture. The following are illustrative examples of physical things.

Antimatter	Atoms
Bank Branches	Books
Buildings / Houses	Cafes
Clocks / Watches	Clouds
Coins / Bills	Computers
DNA	Data Centers
Data Storage Devices (i.e. data always physically resides somewhere)	Diamonds
Electrons	Fiber Optic Cables
Food	Game Consoles
Gold	Ice
Jewelry	LP Records
Land	Light
Machines	Mobile Devices
Molecules	Newspapers
Oceans	Offices
Oil	Packaging / Boxes
Paintings	Paper
Particles	Photographs (paper)
Roads	Robots
Rocks	Satellites
Sculptures	Ships
Shops	Snow
Tools	Toys
Trees	Viruses
Walls	Warehouses
Waves	Wood

Dematerialization

Dematerialization is the tendency for the economy to be based on less and less physical things. For example, the ability to bank online instead of going to a physical branch or bank machine.

Materialism

Materialism is a philosophy that views all things as physical. For example, data that seems to have no physical form actually exists on a data storage device in a location such as a home or a data center. People commonly believe that intangible experiences exist but materialists would trace this to the physical state of brain. Pragmatists would point out that the brain isn't experienced as a regular physical thing such that things that are perceived as intangible are intangible from the human perspective.

Minimalism

Minimalism is a lifestyle, aesthetic or philosophy that seeks to simplify all things as much as possible. For example, a world filled with featureless white rooms. This is harsh, austere and impractical as humans thrive in rich environments. The use of tools is central to human thriving such that removing too many things could be detrimental to the human experience.