quote:
Originally posted by forgiven:
let's be sure we're talking about the same version of quantum theory, ok? in yours, must existence depend upon observation? (well, you can qualify it to 'intelligent human observation' if you want)... iow, before humans existed the universe "existed" in all possible states, finally coming to the present state after observation?
Nope an electron exsists if you observe it or not, what observation does is collapse the wavefunction down to one of its possible states. Also QM only applies at very small scales, so the universe having been off the quantum scale since about 14 BYA (+ or - a couple of BY) didn`t have a wavefunction to collapse in the same way as an electron etc does...
As soon as the universe expanded from the quantum scale QM was for the most part superceded by the sort of descriptions you get under classical and relativistic physics, apart from down at the level of atoms etc that are on the quantum level...
(Of course that doesn't make the universe totally predictable because as I mentioned before Chaos theory rears its head)....