Koliedrus
12-19-2004, 05:52 PM
I've been trying to mentally digest a series of acticles concerning the effect that the "simple" act of "Obervation" has on the state or reality.
One (http://www.seti.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=194993&ct=290165)
Two (http://www.seti.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=194993&ct=295500)
Three (http://www.space.com/searchforlife/quantum_astronomy_041216.html)
Four = Yet to be published as of this writing.
The implications are quite literally mind-bending.
An excerpt from the third article maintains....
The interesting part of Professor Wheeler's thought experiment is that the quasar emitting the photons is about one billion light years away—that is, the light from this quasar is supposed to have taken a billion years to travel to Earth. It seems perplexing that any given photon will have had to have traveled both paths when you put the detector at the intersection of both paths, but then one path or the other path when you decide to put the detector directly into one of these paths rather than at their intersection.
In other words, how can your decision as to where to put the detector affect the path of a given photon a billion years after it supposedly started along one of the paths toward Earth -- long before humans even existed on this planet (much less discovered quantum physics)? It would appear that what has "happened" in the distant past in this case may be determined by what is happening right now even though it is supposed to have "happened" over a billion years ago. The choice of which path, in other words, has somehow been "delayed." One might view this as the Universe playing more the part of an active participant in what is happening rather than just in what has happened in the past in this case. Hence the "Participatory Universe" conceptualization.
I'm hoping to read in article Four that a solution to the light-year-long fiber optic cable needed to confirm this Gedanken has been blue printed for possible production.
If confirmed, several disciplines that we hold sacred will have to step back and take another look.
It's good that these articles are being published over "time". My interest would most certainly have faltered if read all at once. Lack of comprehension would have led to frustration and self-defensive disinterest.
At this point, I'm just fortunate enough to grasp the concept.
And, based on the theory, my observation has an impact.
The articles are ©:
SETI Institute - 515 N. Whisman Road - Mountain View, CA 94043 - Tel:650.961.6633 - Fax:650.961.7099 Please send us comments and questions.
Copyright © 2004, SETI Institute - Unless otherwise indicated, the documents and graphics stored on this Web server, www.seti.org, are copyrighted. Links to these documents are permitted and encouraged. No copies may be made without permission.
One (http://www.seti.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=194993&ct=290165)
Two (http://www.seti.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=194993&ct=295500)
Three (http://www.space.com/searchforlife/quantum_astronomy_041216.html)
Four = Yet to be published as of this writing.
The implications are quite literally mind-bending.
An excerpt from the third article maintains....
The interesting part of Professor Wheeler's thought experiment is that the quasar emitting the photons is about one billion light years away—that is, the light from this quasar is supposed to have taken a billion years to travel to Earth. It seems perplexing that any given photon will have had to have traveled both paths when you put the detector at the intersection of both paths, but then one path or the other path when you decide to put the detector directly into one of these paths rather than at their intersection.
In other words, how can your decision as to where to put the detector affect the path of a given photon a billion years after it supposedly started along one of the paths toward Earth -- long before humans even existed on this planet (much less discovered quantum physics)? It would appear that what has "happened" in the distant past in this case may be determined by what is happening right now even though it is supposed to have "happened" over a billion years ago. The choice of which path, in other words, has somehow been "delayed." One might view this as the Universe playing more the part of an active participant in what is happening rather than just in what has happened in the past in this case. Hence the "Participatory Universe" conceptualization.
I'm hoping to read in article Four that a solution to the light-year-long fiber optic cable needed to confirm this Gedanken has been blue printed for possible production.
If confirmed, several disciplines that we hold sacred will have to step back and take another look.
It's good that these articles are being published over "time". My interest would most certainly have faltered if read all at once. Lack of comprehension would have led to frustration and self-defensive disinterest.
At this point, I'm just fortunate enough to grasp the concept.
And, based on the theory, my observation has an impact.
The articles are ©:
SETI Institute - 515 N. Whisman Road - Mountain View, CA 94043 - Tel:650.961.6633 - Fax:650.961.7099 Please send us comments and questions.
Copyright © 2004, SETI Institute - Unless otherwise indicated, the documents and graphics stored on this Web server, www.seti.org, are copyrighted. Links to these documents are permitted and encouraged. No copies may be made without permission.