“There are no facts, only interpretations.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~
What’s making something true or false?
When you’re looking at a tree it’s obviously there, right? There’s no doubt whether it’s real or not. It’s a tree, who can say it’s not?
Well, you’re wrong. Kind of.
OK, not entirely wrong, but it’s not exactly what you think it is, the tree that you are looking at.
The images we see are made up of light reflected from the objects we look at.
This light enters the eye through the cornea, which acts like a window at the front of the eye. The amount of light entering the eye is controlled by the pupil, which is surrounded by the iris – the colored part of the eye.
Because the front part of the eye is curved, it bends the light, creating an upside down image on the retina. The brain eventually turns the image the right way up.
So if our brain is eventually turning the image up side down, does that mean that we see the world as it really is, “the right way”, or does it mean that everything that we see in the world is actually the exact opposite?
Also, if we are only seeing objects because of the light that reflects from them as we look at them, what does it say about the objects if we were looking on them through a different light? Is it all only a matter of perspective?
I.e. “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”, if we are not observing something does that mean that it doesn’t exist?
Does that mean that the observation itself is the source of all things in our universe?
Perspective: the only thing that exists?
Let’s say that your name is Michael.
Now let’s imagine that one day your friend Chris is constantly saying to you that your name is not Michael, it is Joe. You know that your name is Michael, right? No matter what Chris has to say, it won’t change your mind, you know your name.
But what if the next day Chris comes with 10 more people, including your mom and dad, that are 100% convinced that your name is Joe. And they have proof, ID, certificates, old year-books. Would that change your mind?
And what if a 1,000 people are calling you Joe, would that persuade you?
Even if you’re still very confident that your name is Michael, despite what everyone has to say, is that so? Your name is really Michael?
Is it the fact that you were named Michael when you were born that makes it true?
Or is it the fact that you’ve been believing that your name is Michael beyond any doubt ever since you remember yourself?
“What is history if not a story told by the winners?”
~ Winston Churchill ~
So if eventually you changed your thoughts and “realized” that your name was actually Joe all the time and that you were “wrong”, does that mean that you are now “right”?
Does that mean that you can choose to be anyone and anything that you want, as long as you believe it strongly enough?
That every piece of our lives is not “true” at all, but it is solely a matter of our perspective and how strongly we believe it? Nothing more than that?
Bizarre. Mind blowing.
Meaning, if you are convinced in something, no matter what it is, it is “true”. “True” for you, and maybe for others as well.
Some things are easier to agree on with others, like the color of the sky or what day is it, and some things are anything but easy to agree on.
It is the belief and perspective we have on things that determines their nature.
Can Quantum Physics find an explanation?
Yes, it can.
Have you ever heard about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle?
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, articulated in 1927 by German physicist Werner Heisenberg (Yep, the guy Walter White names himself after in Breaking Bad), states that the position and the velocity of a given object can not both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory. In fact, the very concepts of exact position and exact velocity together, have no actual meaning in nature.
It is not easy to comprehend that, since ordinary everyday-life experience does not provide any clue of this principle.
E.g. it is easy to measure both the position and the velocity of a car driving, because the uncertainties implied by this principle for ordinary objects are too small to be observed. The complete principle says that the product of the uncertainties in position and velocity is equal to or greater than a tiny physical quantity, something very small, about 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of a second. VERY SMALL.
Only for the exceedingly small masses of atoms and subatomic particles does the product of the uncertainties become significant.
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
~ Albert Einstein ~
And here comes the amazing part.
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle reveals that any attempt to measure precisely the velocity of a particle, such as an electron, will knock it about in an unpredictable way, so that a simultaneous measurement of its position has no validity.
This result has nothing to do with inadequacies in the measuring instruments, the technique, or the observer; it arises out of the intimate connection in nature between particles and waves in the realm of subatomic dimensions.
In other words, even if you’re looking in the most neutral and accurate way, the fact itself that you are looking on the particle changes its state. Only by looking at it, you are changing it!
Your perspective, the look itself, determines the state of what it is your looking at.
This ~100 years old quantum physics principle actually proves that in the most profound levels, in the nature of subatomic particles, the observation itself determines the state of matter.
Our perspective shapes reality.
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