- #1
Tiberius
I've seen this a lot in people's post on Quantum Mechanics and just to clarify this common misconception...
QUANTUM MECHANICS AND THE TALK ABOUT "OBSERVERS" AND "OBSERVATIONS" HAS NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH CONSCIOUSNESS OR LIFE OR LIVING THINGS "OBSERVING" THINGS.
In QM when they talk about observations collapsing wave functions, they are talking about devices that fire particles and measure the way they bounce back to measure the traits of OTHER particles. When this happens, those particles being fired into the system disturb that very system - that is ALL that is meant by "observation". It doesn't include or have anything to do with consciousness or anything mystical that people are always trying to attach to it. It simply means that when you fire a particle into another particle, it will disturb the particle being hit - basic common sense.
On the macro level wave functions are collapsed automatically by all of the particles bouncing into them. No consciousness affects any of this in the slightest and the universe would operate just as it does, even if you removed all life and consciousness from it.
People have taken that unfortunate choice of word "observation" and interpreted it to mean something to do with the awareness of conscious or intelligent beings, and it is simply a purely mechanical function having nothing to do with this. From this misinterpretation of the word "observation" they come up with all sorts of "mind over matter" silliness and claim that QM backs them up when it does nothing of the sort.
So, once and for all, let everyone here know that QM as a science has nothing to do with conscious beings or awareness.
QUANTUM MECHANICS AND THE TALK ABOUT "OBSERVERS" AND "OBSERVATIONS" HAS NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH CONSCIOUSNESS OR LIFE OR LIVING THINGS "OBSERVING" THINGS.
In QM when they talk about observations collapsing wave functions, they are talking about devices that fire particles and measure the way they bounce back to measure the traits of OTHER particles. When this happens, those particles being fired into the system disturb that very system - that is ALL that is meant by "observation". It doesn't include or have anything to do with consciousness or anything mystical that people are always trying to attach to it. It simply means that when you fire a particle into another particle, it will disturb the particle being hit - basic common sense.
On the macro level wave functions are collapsed automatically by all of the particles bouncing into them. No consciousness affects any of this in the slightest and the universe would operate just as it does, even if you removed all life and consciousness from it.
People have taken that unfortunate choice of word "observation" and interpreted it to mean something to do with the awareness of conscious or intelligent beings, and it is simply a purely mechanical function having nothing to do with this. From this misinterpretation of the word "observation" they come up with all sorts of "mind over matter" silliness and claim that QM backs them up when it does nothing of the sort.
So, once and for all, let everyone here know that QM as a science has nothing to do with conscious beings or awareness.