- #1
IllyaKuryakin
- 73
- 3
So, let's say that a star 50,000 light years distant does not exist until it is observed. One day I look up and see a bright star and it's waveform collapses into existence as we know it. Now suppose my pet kitty observes it, does the waveform collapse? What if a tiny bug saw the star? It has been observed, does it's waveform collapse? No. Because, there was no information created about the existence of the star. It's really the connection between information theory, and reality. For the waveform to collapse, the information must come into existence at the same moment as the observation is made, and the waveform of there probably being a star at that location is collapsed by the act of the information coming into existence. No information, no star.
So, what if a hermit sees the star, but never communicates that observation to anyone in any fashion, so the information dies with the hermit? Information cannot die, it lives on, perhaps in the remains of the hermit, but once created, it exists forever. And since the information about the observation of the star lives on forever, in some form or another, then the star is forever crystallized from only a probability of existence, into what we call reality.
This then places humans back at the center of existence. In a very real sense, it invalidates the Copernican principle that we are not in a special or favored place in the Universe. It seems we are very special indeed. The Universe would not exist without us.
So, what if a hermit sees the star, but never communicates that observation to anyone in any fashion, so the information dies with the hermit? Information cannot die, it lives on, perhaps in the remains of the hermit, but once created, it exists forever. And since the information about the observation of the star lives on forever, in some form or another, then the star is forever crystallized from only a probability of existence, into what we call reality.
This then places humans back at the center of existence. In a very real sense, it invalidates the Copernican principle that we are not in a special or favored place in the Universe. It seems we are very special indeed. The Universe would not exist without us.