This post discusses the Observer Effect. The Observer Effect is associated with the Double-Slit Experiment and was discovered in 1801 by the British polymath Thomas Young (1773-1829).
The animated introduction in the TED-Ed video explains the link between the double-slit experiment and why physicist Richard Feynman (1918-1988), a 1965 Nobel Laureate, called it the Central Mystery of Quantum Mechanics.
The video begins with the statement: “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 atoms and electrons can behave as particles and waves at the same time, 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, titled “Greatest Proof We’re In a Simulation,” used the same experiment as above, but with single photons instead of electrons and a barrier with two slits. After explaining the experiment, a scientific detector is used to “observe” the waves as they pass through the two slits. Unexpectedly, instead of showing interference patterns suggestive of waves, as in the previous experiment, the result was two bands suggestive of 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 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, after removing the scientific detector, 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.”
Contrary to Dr. deGrasse’s claim, the Buddha not only understood the Observation Effect more than 2600 years ago but also taught that observation does not change reality. Instead, what makes it seem as though reality changes is the varying degree to which we can observe the same reality.
With the development of quantum field theory, Newtonian-style solid, indestructible particles no longer exist because quantum fields have replaced them as the building blocks of the universe. In fact, particles have become epiphenomena, 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.
However, not all ripples can be epiphenomena. According to quantum field theory, only when ripples in the quantum field are large enough to be “measured” can they be considered epiphenomena. Those waves that are not large enough to be “measured” are “turbulence.” This concept matters because it shows that, while “epiphenomena” and “turbulence” in the quantum energy field share the same reality as energy, they differ in visibility: epiphenomena are visible while turbulence is not.
Before we move on, let us recall a concept that we discussed in earlier posts. As the image above illustrates, in quantum mechanics, epiphenomena are ripples in the quantum energy field and therefore are quantum energy. In Buddhism, however, epiphenomena are ripples in a field of consciousness known as non-luminosity. Because they fluctuate in consciousness, epiphenomena in Buddhism are conscious thoughts.
As in an earlier post, we will use the example of humans observing a galaxy to illustrate the process of observation.
According to the Five Aggregates, human observation of the galaxy begins with the Aggregate of Receiving, when the consciousness of the eyes perceives the “experiential contents” of the galaxy. This is followed by the Aggregate of Thinking, indicating an active mind, when the perceived “experiential contents” become the “reading in of the observer’s mind.” In the Buddhist universe, the waves of consciousness are what carry the “experiential contents” from the galaxy to the observer, in which both the epiphenomenon of the galaxy and the observer exist.
Furthermore, as discussed earlier, once “experiential contents” become a “reading of the mind,” they are met by “billions of thoughts per second.” The significance of meeting “billions of thoughts per second” is that the gentle waves carrying the “experiential contents” become more turbulent in the mind. Greater turbulence causes larger ripples and, therefore, epiphenomena to form in non-luminosity.
The third step involves the Aggregate of Action, which holds that the epiphenomena in waves of consciousness are “conceptualized in ways we do not govern.” As discussed earlier, conceptualization means that “every thought takes a form, (Chinese: 念念成形) and “all forms are consciousness (Chinese: 形皆有識).”
The “form” in “every thought takes a form” refers to the external appearance of thoughts large enough to be epiphenomena that Buddha can perceive directly. On the other hand, thoughts that are not large enough to be epiphenomena remain as “turbulence” that can neither be measured in science nor perceived directly by Buddha.
This is how the Observer Effect arises in humans. While epiphenomena and turbulence are both ripples in consciousness, their differing levels of observability make them appear distinct.
After the “forms” are conceptualized, the Aggregate Consciousness then projects the “form” from the observer’s mind. The projected “forms” then manifest as the Aggregate of Rupa. The Aggregate of Rupa refers to the universe of which humans are a part and is often considered “physical” by them. There is even a discipline known as “physics” that focuses on investigating the “physical” world.
However, nothing in the universe is “physical” because everything in it is a “form” conceptualized in the observer’s mind, “in ways he does not govern,” as Dr. Fisch put it, as discussed earlier. The observer then projects these conceptualized “forms” from consciousness as phenomena in the world.
However, projections of consciousness are impossible when the mind is quiescent. That is why, upon enlightenment, when the mind is quiescent, the universe disappears, which is what Adyashanti and the two monks witnessed upon their enlightenment, as discussed earlier. Without projections of consciousness, the universe can no longer be manifested.
The Buddha calls any consideration of “physical” entities in the universe a delusional misunderstanding of reality, the result of “the reification of what are actually imaginary external phenomena.”
However, delusion does not start with human beings. In the Three Delicate Marks, the Buddha teaches that the Observer Effect first occurs in the smallest conscious epiphenomena in the universe known as the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust “(Chinese: 鄰虛塵). Like humans, “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” can be either the Observer or the Observed. However, the Buddha calls everything that is observed a delusional eternal realm, clearly indicating that separating the Observer from the Observed is a delusional misunderstanding of reality.
In a universe built by consciousness, everything is conscious. In such a universe, all perceivable phenomena are epiphenomena, projections of consciousness. On the other hand, the imperceivable spaces between the epiphenomena are turbulence of consciousness. While observation changes their perceivability, it does not change the fact that they are the same.
According to the Buddha, this Observer Effect occurs first among the smallest epiphenomena in the universe, meaning that it can also happen with larger epiphenomena such as photons, electrons, and scientific sensing equipment and detection screens. They are all conscious epiphenomena existing in the turbulence of the field of consciousness known as non-luminosity. While observation can change their perceivability, it cannot change the fact that they are both conscious.
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