QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

For example, an observer can, using a suitable form of experimental apparatus, measure the
precise location of an electron, or can use another type of equipment and obtain from it a precise
measurement of the electron’s wavelength. In both events, the choice of experimental apparatus
defines whether particle or wave properties are observed. The observable nature of the electron is
essentially defined via the greater wholeness of the measuring device. By looking in different
ways we receive different answers. In itself, however, each measurement is neither inaccurate or
unclear. 698 For this reason, according to Bohr, observation in quantum mechanics per se differs
in no way from the situation in classical physics, even though humans shape the world by their
actions and choices, the case of whether or not someone becomes conscious of a certain result
in a specific measurement situation or not, will not effect on the shaping of observed reality.
A measurement situation makes a deterministically developing ”closed” system which would
obey the Schrödinger equation into an ”open” one. During an interactive process, the system
made up of the observing equipment and the object are not in any definable state, and cannot be
subjected to any form of analysis before the interaction has ceased and a new ”closed” system
has formed in which the measuring device has settled into one of the states that we can read. This
thinking of Bohr’s concerning the unavoidable influence of the environment is similar in nature
to that of supporters of the decoherence model. Bohr however goes further in seeing that even
separating subject and object cannot be achieved in an unambiguous way while interaction is
proceeding, because the division between the experimental equipment and the observer as an
extension of it is not an absolute one. 699
According to Bohr, the difficulty of objective observation in microscopic physics can be
compared to the psychological problem of self-awareness. The observed subject can be part of
the content of its own consciousness, but the possibility of observation does however require that
part of the subject remains external to the content of the investigating consciousness. This in turn
requires a moving or relative rather than an absolute division between subject and object.
However, consistent description of our experience is based on the clear separation of subject and
object. When we wish to communicate our internal or external observations, we have to make a
theoretical distinction, a cut, and detach ourselves from the world we are investigating and
portray it as independent. Classical physics mixes this abstract portrayal into reality by believing
that it can separate subject from object and investigate and measure the external world as an
698 Wheeler refers to the same situation when explaining measurements to Horganille: “Not until you start asking
questions, do you get something… The situation cannot declare itself until you have asked your question.” Horgan
1998, 82.
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