From: Jim Wyatt
Location: Guernsey, Channel Islands
Date: 10/16/2008
Hi. I have just finished reading Blood Music (fantastic by the way), and was facinated one of the theories touched upon. I have read a little into Anthropic Principle, but it was the idea that to some measure we shape the laws of the universe as we develop within it.
Id be really interested to hear any further thoughts you had on this, or if you could suggest any further writings on the subject
Thank you for your time
Jim
From: Greg Bear
Date: 10/16/2008
Actually, BLOOD MUSIC is a hyper example of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Look that up on any search engine and you'll find hours of fine reading.
From: patrick
Location:
Date: 10/18/2008
Yes, but little definition in what determines an 'observation'. After searching for answers to my questions, below, I came across David Deutsch's website and thought I'd ask him:
Me: Does a quantum event require one or the other: a detection?...or a person knowing the result? Or, are you saying, neither?
Deutsch: Yes, neither.
He said this answer wasn't widely accepted, though.
From: Greg Bear
Date: 10/24/2008
I recall Heinz Pagels reached the same conclusion. But it's difficult to design an experiment that is not eventually witnessed by an observer!
From: patrick
Location:
Date: 10/24/2008
Well, at least the data from it. So how the hell do you know? How the hell did the idea come up in the first place? Seems like nonsense to me.
From: Greg Bear
Date: 10/27/2008
Does sound like nonsense (as does much of 20th century physics, from a materialist-rationalist perspective), but significant aspects of this interpretation of the theory have been pretty well confirmed. Physicists like John Cramer, Pagels, and apparently David Deutsch have proposed reasonable and on occasion brilliant work-arounds or alternatives, but frankly, I like this connection between observer and reality... always have! (And observations are always encoded in data--which is part of the conceit in CITY AT THE END OF TIME, that text--data--is the DNA of the universe.)
From: Bill Goodwin
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 11/16/2008
"There once was a man who said, "God,
Must think it exceedingly odd
If he finds that this tree
Continues to be
When there's no one about in the Quad.""
--Ronald Knox
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