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Re:Henri Bergson’s debate with Albert Einstein swayed the 19... by makmanalp on Friday May 06, 2016 @10:55PM (#11648172)
I always wondered about the observer and how the fuck the particles "know" (or detect) that they are being observed or what is even the criteria - is a human being an observer? What about a measuring device a la Schrodinger? Does the device measuring count as an observation, or is it when a human looks at the device? Turns out we're not the only ones confused:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_(quantum_physics)

Peruse that page and the external link at the bottom to some person's thesis that is a bit long but looks interesting.

Re:Henri Bergson’s debate with Albert Einstein swayed the 19... by asimuvPR on Friday May 06, 2016 @11:25PM (#11648254)
This made me chuckle:

Critics of the special role of the observer also point out that observers can themselves be observed, leading to paradoxes such as that of Wigner's friend; and that it is not clear how much consciousness is required ("Was the wave function waiting to jump for thousands of millions of years until a single-celled living creature appeared? Or did it have to wait a little longer for some highly qualified measurer - with a PhD?"[3]).

Re:Henri Bergson’s debate with Albert Einstein swayed the 19... by spacehome on Saturday May 07, 2016 @03:52AM (#11648776)
It's observers all the way down.