17 December 2017

Whats There If No One Looks?

We know if we look at something it's there. It is hard to argue that there's not a computer screen, mobile phone or different device to read this page in front of you right now. If you look at football, it's there! Definitely! If you look away and someone looks at it, they can tell you it's there.

If No One Looks At It

Is it there? You're not looking at it. Now you could say, I've seen it there it must be there. Alternatively, you could ask someone else if they see it, but if they don't look at it they can only do the same you did: Say they've seen it there so it must be there. Is that enough? Can we say just because we've seen something at a certain place it's definitely exactly at that position?

Empirical Research

This is how our brain works most of the time. Knowledge by experience. We see the football, look away, check it at some point again, it's still there. Thus we conclude it must've always been there like it has been the first time we saw it. At some point when we see the ball is no longer at the same spot, something must have changed. We figure out someone moved it. We see how it was moved. Now we think if it's not at the same spot it has been moved. So if we look at the football and check on it later and nothing has changed we assume the scene hasn't been tampered with. We would never expect that when we do not look at the ball something might be going on with the ball and the surrounding area. If we're away from our home we would never imagine that something happens to our room at home when we're not there. Especially if we come home and it hasn't changed at all.

Observing Changes Variables

Through our years in quantum physics, we figured out that every particle has a probability to be at a position. When we observe the particle it is always at a certain position respective to that probability. If we don't observe it we can't say for sure where it's at. If this counts for every particle of a ball. Additionally, these particles interact with each other they collide and all. So due to the interactions of each of those particles, we can say for sure that they're forming a ball. Now the ball can be at any position that matches the formula of all the probabilities of the particles. Since the ball also interacts with the air surrounding it and the ground it may lie on we can continue to eradicate all possibilities that won't match this position. In the end, we can say that as long we observe anything we can conclude that the world around us is as we experience it.

Does A Blind Man Observe?

Observing something isn't the only limiting factor here. Just standing around makes your feet interact with the ground.

Okay, let's go with a thought experience I've created once to give an example of the division through zero. If you have a cake and you divide it through 2 people, you get 2 pieces - a half each - for each person. If you have a cake and you divide it through 1 person you get the whole cake for that person. If we have a cake and divide it through no one, there's no one there, there's no one who can divide the cake. You don't even have someone who knows the cake is there. Does the cake even exist? No one can tell you.

If We Don't Observe

Going with this, if we're not observing anything and not looking at something we're disconnected from the world. We're now independent of what happens around us, the probabilities can do their thing freely and the position of everything around us is uncertain until we observe it again. You could call this a state of mind of uncertainty.

Magic Plays a Role Too

Now at this point, if we say magic exists and what magic does is change the probabilities of reality. This means if we think about the ball being where we saw it. This thought should change the probabilities for the ball to be where we saw it. That also means if we convince our unconsciousness to believe that we remember the ball to be somewhere else it should be somewhere else if it's a possibility given by the probability function of the particles of the ball.

Okay, but.. if one person thinks the ball is on the desk and another thinks it's on the ground where is it then?

Interference of Several Thoughts

Well, what happens if two people think of a different position of the ball? I wouldn't know the details but I would assume the more people, the more whose unconsciousness is convinced the most the higher the chance for the ball to be at the position these people believe it is.

And that's all there is. At least as long you or someone else looks at it. :P


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I'm a B.Sc. Games Engineer and I created this blog to share my ideas, theorycrafting, thoughts and whatever I'm working on or doing.