when you say observer in physics you really mean shooting really tiny things with other tiny things, you don't mean like looking. Imagine finding the shape of a building by shooting it with a cannon and watching where the balls end up after smashing into it. That is a pretty accurate depiction of what is going on.

If you did the double split experiment without yourself physically watching it the result would be the same as watching. Sorry, your thoughts don't leave your brain.

I'm coming back to these comments later, but for now my head is starting to hurt....

YES

The double slit experiment was interpreted for several decades differently. It wasn't until the delayed choice experiment was successfully done that the situation became so surprising. I'll admit that I don't understand how the results of the delayed choice experiment could be true.

[en.wikipedia.org]

[en.wikipedia.org]

To me this is a very surprising result. I recall my first day in Quantum Mechanics 511 back in 1981 seemed to explain the double slit as long as you could accept the idea of entanglement. But with the delayed choice experiment result - that no longer works.

Yes, I now believe that consciousness is somehow intimately linked to reality. I used to just assume that there existed an objective reality. Now, I'm honestly not sure and even skeptical that it exists. I'll confess to being both confused and surprised.

It's painful reading these responses. The double-slit experiment has nothing to do with "thoughts." Thinking about the experiment has no affect on the experiment. It is only MEASUREMENT that has the effect. Measurement is not thinking. A robot taking the measurement would have the same effect.

What I "believe" has nothing to do with scientific understanding.

The double-slit experiment does not show that thoughts affect matter. That's a total misunderstanding that Einstein addressed.

I'm just here for the physics comments.

I have absolutely no idea.

I've never been very good at quantum physics ... I stopped at A-level plus the occasional Brian Cox series on the TV That said, I don't believe that we can affect anything physical outside out bodies with thought alone and I think that has been pretty well proven. Schrödinger's cat aside but that is more about 2 realities existing at the same time and only knowing the one that applies to you when you open the box, so it's not really regarding thought alone.

Nope...well...Uri Geller ...naw...just kidding.

It's not that a person looking at the experiment changes the outcome. It's how we are required to observe it due to physics. A single atom doesn't reflect photons the same as a large mass of atoms. We have to interact with the subject to observe it. I.e. bombard it with subatomic particles, or interact with the output of energy such as electromagnetic force. So the quantum mechanics behind the effects of observation has nothing to do with our brain affecting the physical world. That's like saying because of the law of inertia "objects in motion stay in motion" this means that people who begin to exercise will therefore exercise more, when the two are unrelated. So no, I see no reason to think the thoughts in our brain affect the outside world.

In a word, no.

Evidently it is a legitimate and reproducible and verifiable experiment. I'm in a little over my head with this but it did get me thinking. In the mental health field we often talk about getting the outcomes we expect, if you think people are going to be hostile, your behaviors will lead to that happening, thus confirming your original belief.. Hence, how does the fact that one observing the physical world actually changes the physical world fit in with that? I don't know but it's fascinating. That's as far as I have gotten on that. Looking forward to others thoughts on this.

What is that experiment?