Uncertainty principle doesn't support observer-created reality

I wish I could create reality through my intention. Believe me, I've tried. After the Mini Cooper (modern version) was released, I put a lot of time and energy into visualizing a Mini manifesting in our carport. 

I even promised whatever god might be hearing my "prayer," that if he/she/it made a Mini Cooper appear, along with a clear sign of the god's identity in the driver's seat (holy book, divine icon, other form of sacred communication), I'd make a highly public conversion and start worshipping that god.

Alas, no luck. Eventually I did get a Mini Cooper, but only after buying one from the Portland dealership.

However, many people consider that it is possible to control reality through observing, visualizing, intending, or some other purely psychological means -- meaning, without physical action.

I criticized this attitude, epitomized by the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?" in 'Quantum Gods' debunks spiritual pseudo-science. 

This movie claims that quantum effects carry over into everyday reality, and urges viewers to adopt a form of "quantum spirituality" that is 99% bullshit and 1% science.

A more sophisticatedly-stated critique of mixing quantum theory with spirituality is found in a New York Times piece, "Nothing to See Here: Demoting the Uncertainty Principle."

Good writing by a scientifically-minded philosopher, Craig Callender. 

“You’ve observed the robbers. They know it. That will change their actions,” says Charlie Eppes, the math savant who helps detectives on television’s “Numbers.” Eppes claims that this insight follows from quantum physics, in particular, Werner Heisenberg’s infamous “uncertainty principle.” Not all mischaracterizations of Heisenberg’s principle are as innocent as Eppes’s.

The film “What the Bleep Do We Know!?” uses it to justify many articles of faith in New Age philosophy. Asserting that observing water molecules changes their molecular structure, the film reasons that since we are 90 percent water, physics therefore tells us that we can fundamentally change our nature via mental energy.

Fundamentally inaccurate uses of the principle are also common in the academy, especially among social theorists, who often argue that it undermines science’s claims to objectivity and completeness. As Jim Holt has written, “No scientific idea from the last century is more fetishized, abused and misunderstood — by the vulgar and the learned alike — than Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.”

...Once one removes the “unprofessional vagueness” surrounding the notion of measurement in quantum physics, the principle falls out as a clear corollary of quantum physics. Weirdness remains, of course. The stingy quantum oddsmaker is genuinely odd.

But all the truly wild claims – that observers are metaphysically important, that objectivity is impossible, that we posses a special kind of mental energy – are the result of foggy interpretations made even less sharp by those wanting to validate their pet metaphysical claims with quantum physics.

To prevent future temptation to misuse, I urge that we demote the uncertainty principle.

If Pluto can be reclassified as a dwarf planet, then surely we can do something similar here. Going forward, let’s agree to call the uncertainty principle the “uncertainty relations” or even the less provocative “quantum standard deviation constraints.” Not many people outside of a lab are likely to invoke a principle with a name like this.

And that’s probably a good thing.

Comments

[777]

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It's not honest, Brian
in many ways
You say :
"I even promised whatever god might be hearing my "prayer," that if he/she/it made a Mini Cooper appear, along with a clear sign of the god's identity in the driver's seat (holy book, divine icon, other form of sacred communication), I'd make a highly public conversion and start worshipping that god."

I have presented this group, . . you with such a proof -the ONLY MIRACLE with FROOF I KNOW IN HUMAN HISTORY
AND UNDERSIGNED "MAHARAJI"

and you just ignored

as was the way you obeserved Sant Mat during your "active" period :

when it doesn't come to your own person, Damn , . . it has no value !
I mean ; you were never capable to disconnect value from your mini-self

777

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