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dEdt
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If consciousness causes collapse, then wouldn't physics shortly after the big bang be different?
dEdt said:If consciousness causes collapse, then wouldn't physics shortly after the big bang be different?
rustynail said:Consciousness deos not collapse the wave function. Measurement does, and it does because of the energy required to measure the particle's position.
JordanL said:I am admittedly not a studied physicist. (So the following is my understanding, and someone should correct me wherever I am wrong.)
Consciousness does not cause the collapse, in the sense of the famous thought experiment posited by Schrödinger. It instead is the process of measurement, and conscious awareness requires measurement, (whether that is by instrumentation or natural sensory input).
This is because any process which measures the state at a given moment of any quantum state introduces new energy to a particular thing being measured, and thus alters its state, "collapsing" it.
I am sure someone else can give you a more linguistically correct explanation, but this is the understanding I have in relatively casual terms, (as your question appeared to be a more casual one).
The theory of "Consciousness causes collapse" suggests that the act of observation or measurement by a conscious observer can cause a quantum system to collapse and behave differently than it would have without the observation.
In the double-slit experiment, a single particle can behave as both a wave and a particle. According to the theory of "Consciousness causes collapse," the act of measuring or observing the particle's behavior can collapse its wave function into a single state, causing it to behave either as a particle or a wave, but not both simultaneously.
There is currently no conclusive scientific evidence to support the theory of "Consciousness causes collapse." Some interpretations of quantum mechanics, such as the Copenhagen interpretation, do suggest that consciousness plays a role in the collapse of the wave function, but this is still a topic of debate among scientists.
If the theory of "Consciousness causes collapse" is true, it would suggest that our consciousness has a fundamental effect on the behavior of the physical world at a quantum level. This could potentially challenge our traditional understanding of cause and effect, and raise questions about the nature of reality and the role of consciousness in shaping it.
The theory of "Consciousness causes collapse" has sparked much debate and discussion in the field of quantum mechanics. While some scientists view it as a potential explanation for certain quantum phenomena, others argue that it is not scientifically testable and therefore should not be considered a valid theory. As of now, it remains a controversial and unproven idea in the scientific community.