We discuss the Observer Effect in this post. The Observer Effect is associated with the Double-Slit Experiment and was discovered in 1801 by British polymath Thomas Young (1773-1829).
The animated introduction provided by the TED-Ed video helps to understand the link between the double-slit experiment and why physics Richard Feynman (1918-1988), a 1965 Nobel Laureate, deemed it the Central Mystery of Quantum Mechanics.
The video starts by stating, “One of the most amazing facts in physics: everything in the universe, from light to electrons to atoms, behaves like a particle and wave at the same time.” After a brief historical introduction to how particles and waves become one, the video discusses the double-slit experiment.
The experiment involves shooting single electrons at a barrier with two slits cut into it. “Each electron is detected at a specific place at a specific time like a particle. But when you repeat the experiment many times, all the individual electrons trace out a pattern of stripes, characteristic of wave behavior. The idea that particles behave like waves, and vice versa, is one of the strangest and the most powerful in physics. Richard Feynman famously said that this illustrates the central mystery of quantum mechanics.”
With the behavior of a single electron/photo double slit experiment clarified, we discuss the Observer Effect.
This short but clear video entitled “Greatest Proof We’re In a Simulation” involved the same experiment as above except by shooting single photons instead of electrons at a barrier with two slits cut into it. After explaining the experiment, a scientific detector is used to “observe” the waves as they pass through the two slits. Unexpectedly, instead of showing up as interference patterns suggesting waves as in the experiment before, the result was two bands suggesting particles. In other words, the author concluded, “the act of observing which slit it went through changed the behaviors of the photons. No one knows why observing a particle causes its behavior to change.”
In explaining the double-slit experiment, Dr. Jim Al-Khalili showed that the inference pattern returned when he unplugged the scientific “observer” to stop it from observing. In other words, the particles become waves again when “observation” stops. Dr. Al-Khalili suggested, “If you can explain this using common sense and logic, do let me know because there is a Nobel Prize for you.“
If there is a Nobel Prize for this, the Buddha deserves it posthumously. That unplugging the scientific “observer” results in the disappearance of the particles is comparable to when the enlightened “unplugged” his mind by keeping it quiescent resulting in the disappearance of the universe, as can be verified by the enlightenment experiences of Adyashanti and two others.
In his discussion of Thomas Young’s double slit experiment 2.0, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson described the observer effect using single photons. When a scientific detector watched the photons, two bands of light appeared on the screen, suggesting that the photons behave like particles. However, when the scientific detector was removed, an interference pattern emerged, indicating that the photons behave like waves. Dr. deGrasse Tyson summarized the experiment by saying, “On the smallest possible scale that we’ve ever discovered, the quantum universe, the mere act of observation changes reality.” Then, he added his observation, “I cannot explain to you what you’re about to see. That’s because no one on earth understands it yet.”
However, not only is the existence of particles up to debate in science but there is also no change in reality due to the Observer Effect. In fact, while the Observer Effect is the root cause of what Buddha calls a delusional misunderstanding of reality, it is not because it changes reality.
Quantum mechanics have changed much since the 1920s when it was first proposed. With the development of the Quantum Field theory, deemed “the most beautiful theory in physics,” quantum fields have replaced particles as the building blocks of the universe. In fact, particles have become ripples in the quantum fields. Ripples in quantum fields are epiphenomena because they are considered secondary phenomena derived from the quantum fields. Without the fluctuating quantum field, epiphenomena cannot exist. Additionally, according to the Quantum Field Theory, each epiphenomenon is associated with its own field. Electrons and photons are the epiphenomena, each with its field, the electron and photon fields, respectively.
However, in Buddhism, there is only one mental field. Therefore, electrons and photons are conscious epiphenomena. However, in both cases, the fact that electrons and photons are of the same reality as their respective fields is not something observation can change.
So, if reality does not change, what changes in the Observer Effect that causes the delusional misunderstanding of reality? The Five Aggregates answer this question.
Since we are discussing observation, we use the Five Aggregates to explain the human observation process. According to the earlier discussion on the Five Aggregates, the human observation process begins when the conscious waves carrying the “experiential contents” of the world impact the visual consciousness of the eyes, to the “experiential contents” becoming “reading in of the mind,” to their getting conceptualized “in ways we do not govern,” to the conscious mind projecting the conceptualized “experiential contents” to be “seen” on the “screen” as “the world we experience,” as Dr. Fisch describes it, there is no change in reality because everything from the beginning to end is consciousness.
So, what changes upon observation if reality does not change?
Dr. Fisch gives a hint of what changes when he describes “the world we experience” as can be “seen on the screen.” Indeed, while the projection from the conscious mind, “the world we experience,” is visible, the input to the consciousness of the eyes, “the waves of consciousness carrying the “experiential contents” is invisible, even though they are both consciousness.
So, what changes during the human observation process is not reality but the different visibilities of the same reality. While the conscious waves are invisible, their epiphenomenon, “the world we experience,” is visible. This change in visibility of the same reality is the root cause of a delusional misunderstanding of reality in humans because “the world we experience” is the only reality humans can see and experience. Moreover, as a part of the natural observation process, it happens to humans without anyone knowing. Indeed, unless enlightened, the vast majority of humans have no idea of its underlying mental nature, not even the highly trained scientists.
As Buddha teaches in the Three Delicate Marks, the Observer Effect begins in non-luminosity on the smallest conscious epiphenomenon in Buddha’s universe known as “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust,” when the observer-observed duality, delusion, and the Five Aggregates all debut “concomitantly inseparable (Chinese=相應不離)” on it. In other words, the Observer Effect is a natural event beginning in non-luminosity. Since non-luminosity is the foundation of Buddha’s conscious universe, the Observer Effect is inherent in all conscious epiphenomena, of which humanity is one.
Therefore, we can understand why Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara must practice Samathavipasyana (Chinese=止觀) so profoundly to achieve Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (Chinese=阿搙多羅三藐三菩提), the unsurpassed, complete, and perfect enlightenment, gained the Perfection of Wisdom before he could understand that all the Five Aggregates are Empty, liberate himself from his existential suffering, and satisfy Buddha’s soteriological goa. It is because what he needed to realize is buried deep in non-luminosity, the foundational base of the universe. In other words, his efforts are dictated by nature.
Like the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust,” the electrons, photons, scientific detector, and screen are conscious epiphenomena. Therefore, like the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust,” the Observer Effect is inherent in them. It is natural for them to turn the invisible waves into visible epiphenomena upon observation.
Buddha gives the reason why mentality is invisible. Buddha describes mentality as inconceivable, which, according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, means “beyond all conceptualization.” In other words, even if mentality goes through the Five Aggregates, it cannot be conceptualized. Without conceptualization, it cannot be manifested as a visible phenomenon.
Consciousness, being a fluctuating mentality, consists of waves and ripples. When the waves are small, ripples are invisible. When waves are large enough, ripples become visible. It is similar to the explanation from the Quantum Field Theory, where when the waves become large enough, ripples become epiphenomena that scientists can measure.
Since what is measurable is necessarily observable, the epiphenomena as measurable by the Quantum Field Theory and the epiphenomena observable by the Five Aggregates should be close.
The first observable epiphenomenon in Buddha’s universe is the “Neighbor-to-Neighbor dust.” In Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese=首楞嚴經), Buddha indicates that the lifespan of the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” is extremely short by describing it as “born here, also annihilated here (Chinese=當處出生，隨處滅盡).”
The first measurable epiphenomena in the Quantum Field universe are the quarks being annihilated at the speed of “one million billion billion frames per second.”
As measured by the shortness of their lifespans, it is apparent that the “Neighbor-to-Emptiness dust” and the quarks are the same.
Natural gas is another example of something beyond conceptualization. Like mentality, natural gas cannot be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, and touched directly. However, unlike mentality, natural gas can be seen indirectly with flames that can be seen as it burns or gives out heat that can be felt. Additionally, odorant can be added to natural gas to make it possible for humans to detect it by smelling it in an emergency.
Given that mentality can neither burn, give heat, nor have odorants added to it, Buddha teaches that mentality can only be experienced by direct perception. Direct perception allows an enlightened person to become part of the world of mentality and gain knowledge of its “experiential contents.”
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