This study (see here for an explanation or read on for my interpretation) builds on a thought experiment by Eugene Wigner that because of the weirdness of quantum physics it should allow two beings to experience different realities. This is because matter and light exists in a superposition of all possible outcomes up until the point that we try to observe/measure it (e.g. the double-slit experiment), where it then changes to being a single objective reality.
His thought experiment raises the question of whether objective facts can exist, which challenges the foundations of science (at least on a quantum scale).
In a study published this week a group of scientists sought to test that assumption by creating two conflicting realities. First they started off by creating a number of quantum entangled photons (light), so the state of them should always be exactly the same.
Next they had an experimenter ("Wigner's friend") in a room measuring the state of these photons, which can exist either in a horizontal or a vertical polarisation. By measuring them they changed from their superposition of both possible polarisations to a single objective reality. An experimenter outside the room ("Wigner") however instead only tested the photons to prove that they maintain their superposition.
This proves that two conflicting physical realities can co-exist simultaneously. The double-slit experiment proved that observation causes the creation of a single reality which we presumed affected everyone, but in fact this experiment proves that parts of the observed reality will only exist for the local observer.
This means not only whenever you observe parts of the world you are affecting it's existence, but also that that change will simply not exist for others if they were not also observing it. You might watch someone standing under the sun and in your reality they're getting hit by particles, but they might be asleep or otherwise unaware and they'll instead experience it as waves, and it's mind-boggling that subjective reality is really that literal.
This is a far less nihilistic perspective of reality than Schrödinger's cat, where reality stops properly existing when people stop looking, with it being sort of shared hallucination of humanity. Instead people everywhere are shaping the world in lots of small ways merely by being there to experience it.
There is an alternative explanation for their findings however, which instead proposes there is an objective reality but it can't be experienced, and there is still a subjective reality which is: quantum nonlocality.
It basically means that matter and light aren't principally stored at their observed location, instead the data about each piece of them is stored somewhere we haven't observed (i.e. a different dimension) and where we observe them is secondary to that.
Think of it like a universe-scale database about the state of each piece of matter and light, and it exists like a website domain lookup (DNS) - you're asking this universal database for some data about what you should be seeing and it pops out some matter and light infront of your eyes just like loading a website. This is how we're able to have quantum entangled particles that can affect each other faster than the speed of light.
This latter explanation is more aligned with the "we're in a computer simulation" hypothesis as well. It is also aligned with the Many Worlds hypothesis which proposes a multi-verse all with different configurations of what each piece of matter and light could be, which is also mind-boggling in it's scale.
What a fascinating time to be alive.
His thought experiment raises the question of whether objective facts can exist, which challenges the foundations of science (at least on a quantum scale).
In a study published this week a group of scientists sought to test that assumption by creating two conflicting realities. First they started off by creating a number of quantum entangled photons (light), so the state of them should always be exactly the same.
Next they had an experimenter ("Wigner's friend") in a room measuring the state of these photons, which can exist either in a horizontal or a vertical polarisation. By measuring them they changed from their superposition of both possible polarisations to a single objective reality. An experimenter outside the room ("Wigner") however instead only tested the photons to prove that they maintain their superposition.
This proves that two conflicting physical realities can co-exist simultaneously. The double-slit experiment proved that observation causes the creation of a single reality which we presumed affected everyone, but in fact this experiment proves that parts of the observed reality will only exist for the local observer.
This means not only whenever you observe parts of the world you are affecting it's existence, but also that that change will simply not exist for others if they were not also observing it. You might watch someone standing under the sun and in your reality they're getting hit by particles, but they might be asleep or otherwise unaware and they'll instead experience it as waves, and it's mind-boggling that subjective reality is really that literal.
This is a far less nihilistic perspective of reality than Schrödinger's cat, where reality stops properly existing when people stop looking, with it being sort of shared hallucination of humanity. Instead people everywhere are shaping the world in lots of small ways merely by being there to experience it.
There is an alternative explanation for their findings however, which instead proposes there is an objective reality but it can't be experienced, and there is still a subjective reality which is: quantum nonlocality.
It basically means that matter and light aren't principally stored at their observed location, instead the data about each piece of them is stored somewhere we haven't observed (i.e. a different dimension) and where we observe them is secondary to that.
Think of it like a universe-scale database about the state of each piece of matter and light, and it exists like a website domain lookup (DNS) - you're asking this universal database for some data about what you should be seeing and it pops out some matter and light infront of your eyes just like loading a website. This is how we're able to have quantum entangled particles that can affect each other faster than the speed of light.
This latter explanation is more aligned with the "we're in a computer simulation" hypothesis as well. It is also aligned with the Many Worlds hypothesis which proposes a multi-verse all with different configurations of what each piece of matter and light could be, which is also mind-boggling in it's scale.
What a fascinating time to be alive.
