[Johnathan on...] It's SCIENCE!

A fundamental issue in Quantum Mechanics is known as the "Measurement Problem", or more commonly referred to as "The Observer Effect". It is simply the unavoidable effect of "observing" subatomic particles using light. We can't see any object or event in nature without first bouncing light waves off of them. This "bouncing" is what directly disrupts the outcome when observing such tiny objects. It's like hitting a basketball with tennis balls in order to measure it's position. The act of measuring it (or the method used) directly effects the outcome.

This effect is a major road block in QM yet it is also an interesting one. Despite the challenge, physicists have devised a mathematical method of "approximating" the results. This is done by describing subatomic scenarios as a matrix of possibilities prior to observation. I wont bore you with the math but what results is a "wave function". This is a mathematical measurement of objects in a 'pre observation' environment. Physicists describe this world as probability, chances, opportunities etc. Even though we now have more sophisticated methods to measure tiny events, one can no longer say 'for certain' where an object is or what qualities it might have.

The interesting part of all this is the "collapse" of the wave function or when the event is directly observed/ measured. This collapse is the transition from probabilities to an actual/ measurable event. The observer in-a-sense chooses one result in-which to witness out of a wave of possibilities. This effect may seem to be "made up" but it has surprising results. The most famous description of this occurrence is in the "Double Split Experiment" done by Thomas Young. I will avoid explaining the experiment because you can go read about it yourself. What i will do however, is explain the importance of the conclusion.

Results of the experiment clearly show the observer effect collapsing the 'light wave' into 'light particles'. This transition from a probabilistic wave into a particle like state shows the power of simple observation. The wave function is believed to collapse due to pure will of the observer. This has many implications such as re-thinking the role consciousness plays in our universe. The assumption arises that nothing actually "is" until it has been observed to "be". There are many more interesting notations of QM that i would like to discuss such as "entanglement", "Super Position", and perhaps consciousness itself. However, I’ll save it for another day.