7858
@7858.eth
I have been thinking about this a bunch recently and researching it a bit, both without good effect I mean the observer effect, not the towel. I could use a little guidance What counts as observation? How does it play out if you make a cat observe? A fly? A camcorder? Is the effect binary or can some kinds of weak observation create semi-wave-semi-particle behavior? Assume I am clueless on the subject but will be able to carry myself forward with a curated list of articles or search terms
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7858
@7858.eth
It just feels like this is a practical joke. It has to be made up by physicists to test my gullibility. You’re trying to make me believe that my consciousness/measurement/recording is supposed to impact particle physics? Like the little magical fingers of the special light of my soul reaches out to collapse probability into outcome somehow? I will believe a lot, I am a fairly credulous person, but that is a bridge too fucking far
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Takens Theorem
@takenstheorem
Your last sentence is what Einstein could have said rather than the famous gamblin' God remark, haha. The nature of measurement is itself central to some philosophy of science and epistemology so I find those readings are a little more accessible because philosophers are writing for non-physicists too... e.g.: https://iep.utm.edu/int-qm/ I find it neat that an observer's paradox holds across levels of analysis. E.g., in the social realm, Hawthorne effect may or may not be a kind of intriguing psychological analogue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect
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7858
@7858.eth
The Hawthorne effect makes perfect sense. Human beings are extremely social creatures. Particles are not. Am I supposed to believe that they forget how they usually swing their arms when they realize they’re on camera? Do they get uncertain about what to do with their hands in front of pretty girls? It’s implausible on its face
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Takens Theorem
@takenstheorem
Haha, nice. Confession: Awkward memories activated. The Hawthorne effect can be interesting in some cases -- e.g., holds even under minimal instruction, just telling someone they are being watched -- I agree it has the cold "macroscale" intuitiveness in almost a Newtonian sense... the article in the IEP does a good job laying out alternative approaches to the measurement effect at the quantum level. But anyway, entanglement suggests that quantum entities may very well be more social than we think, even at a distance. (ba-dum-tss)
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