X-Message-Number: 21064 From: Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 16:35:03 EST Subject: Re: #21057 quantum observation --part1_21.2b2e7d73.2b72dd87_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Whether in reality particles, and systems in general, "exist" before > observation, is a complex and fairly subtle question about which debate > continues as it has for a century. I have already pointed out that words > like > "particle" in the quantum arena are only metaphors, to be handled with > tongs > while holding your nose. > > Robert Ettinger > In quantum mechanics, an observation don't implies that someone is here to look at something. Observation is synonymous with interaction. If a gamma ray produces a track somewhere, that track is the result of many interactions with the surrounding medium, each such interaction is an observation of the gamma ray. So the track is a set of observations. If the gamma ray was never observed, that is, if there was no interaction with anything along its trajectory, at the start and end points then for anything in the universe it don't exist. This is not philosophy: Something with no interaction with anything has no reality. Yvan Bozzonetti. --part1_21.2b2e7d73.2b72dd87_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21064