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8 The Universe Observed and Unobserved
world with its own rules and ways of behaving—and that this world is totally
detached from living observers and minds. Could it be that this is not true?
During the past decade or so, a few physicists lit upon a brilliant idea. When
a subatomic phenomenon is witnessed by an observer, it may be that the event
that is detected is something that occurs in the observer’s mind rather than in
the external world. To understand this, it must recalled that we never see reality
“as it is”: Instead, what we see is the way it appears to us in our world-model.
Thus, when the scientist observes the result of an experiment, he interprets
it—and indeed sees it—in the light of his own world-model. This approach to
fundamental physics is called quantum Bayesianism. 7
According to this new insight, what traditional physicists got wrong was
the naïve belief that there is a fixed, “true” external reality that we perceive
“correctly, as it really is”. If that were the case, then it would indeed be magical
if the true reality underwent an abrupt change when observed. But that isn’t
what’s happening. The scientific observer sees the readings of his instrument,
and correctly interprets the readings from the standpoint of his world-model.
There is no abrupt change, or dislocation in what’s happening in the outside
world. There is merely a shift in perspective in the scientist’s world model.
Recall that the external universe, outside the purview of any observer, has
no inherent form or structure, because these are contributed by the observer.
The external universe is orderly in the sense that it gives rise to an organized,
meaningful structure in the living observer. The world that we experience is
an organized version of reality, whose shape and structure come from our
world-model. It is the only world we can know, and is the world described by
physics.
It is a categorical mistake to believe that science describes the external world
“as it is”: What science describes is the organized model of the world in our
minds, for that is the only coherent and comprehensible version of reality.
Physics is a description of real events as interpreted in our world model. That
observation is the fundamental insight that underlies quantum Bayesianism.
8 The Universe Observed and Unobserved
world with its own rules and ways of behaving—and that this world is totally
detached from living observers and minds. Could it be that this is not true?
During the past decade or so, a few physicists lit upon a brilliant idea. When
a subatomic phenomenon is witnessed by an observer, it may be that the event
that is detected is something that occurs in the observer’s mind rather than in
the external world. To understand this, it must recalled that we never see reality
“as it is”: Instead, what we see is the way it appears to us in our world-model.
Thus, when the scientist observes the result of an experiment, he interprets
it—and indeed sees it—in the light of his own world-model. This approach to
fundamental physics is called quantum Bayesianism. 7
According to this new insight, what traditional physicists got wrong was
the naïve belief that there is a fixed, “true” external reality that we perceive
“correctly, as it really is”. If that were the case, then it would indeed be magical
if the true reality underwent an abrupt change when observed. But that isn’t
what’s happening. The scientific observer sees the readings of his instrument,
and correctly interprets the readings from the standpoint of his world-model.
There is no abrupt change, or dislocation in what’s happening in the outside
world. There is merely a shift in perspective in the scientist’s world model.
Recall that the external universe, outside the purview of any observer, has
no inherent form or structure, because these are contributed by the observer.
The external universe is orderly in the sense that it gives rise to an organized,
meaningful structure in the living observer. The world that we experience is
an organized version of reality, whose shape and structure come from our
world-model. It is the only world we can know, and is the world described by
physics.
It is a categorical mistake to believe that science describes the external world
“as it is”: What science describes is the organized model of the world in our
minds, for that is the only coherent and comprehensible version of reality.
Physics is a description of real events as interpreted in our world model. That
observation is the fundamental insight that underlies quantum Bayesianism.