[thedoc (OP)]

Colin Holmes asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Since the discovery of the Higgs Boson, mass is no longer a fundamental part of a particle, simply the inaction between the particle and the Higgs Field.  My question is; is charge all that is fundamental or does that also exist from some field interaction?

What do you think?

[Phaedrus]

What do I think? Field interaction.

Elementary particles (protons and electrons) are basically condensations of "the field," or the "zero point energy," or "the aether." Take your pick, they're all the same thing.

The Higgs mechanism is extraneous, in my humble opinion. Mass and charge are two sides of the same coin. Matter is derivative; aether is fundamental.