What is an observer? (fedia.io)

submitted 1 month ago by BlueberryAlice@fedia.io to c/qubits@mander.xyz

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

What is an observer?

We have long assumed that “an observer observes the world.”

But what if—

observation itself is not something we do, but something that only appears when certain conditions are met?

Two independent systems align only at specific moments.

Yet this alignment cannot be explained by causality, correlation, or measurement.

So who is observing?

Or rather—

does the observer emerge only when observation becomes possible?

Summary 👇 https://docs.google.com/document/d/19nDAJ_9MgrUFv4Ggyd9yvZIy4YCH9EqSlVOZPr_VuPs/edit?usp=drivesdk

What do you think about this perspective?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] JakenVeina@midwest.social 1 points 1 month ago

The observer emerges when it becomes entangled with the thing being observed. That's the best explanation I've ever heard on the topic, anyway. What appears to be an unexplainable phenomenon of the emergence of an observer is actually just a byproduct of lab equipment trying to measure something at a quantum scale, and inadvertently becoming entangled with it. And quantum entanglement is rather well understood.

this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2026

4 points (75.0% liked)

Quantum Computing

534 readers

1 users here now

Discussions about quantum computers

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

Sal@mander.xyz