The Observation Problem

Effects in Art, Economics, and Quantum Mechanics

You have a device that can fire particles like electrons or photons—particles of light—one at a time through a barrier with two slits. Behind the barrier, a screen records where each particle lands. Simple enough, right?

Here's where it gets weird. When the particles are not observed, they don't behave as particles should; they behave like waves. They create an interference pattern on the screen behind the slits as if they've gone through both slits at once. However, once you start observing the particles—to see which slit they pass through—they act like normal particles again, no wave-like behavior. Just by watching, you change how they behave. It's as if the particles are saying, "Caught me red-handed! I guess I'll behave now."

This is profoundly unsettling. What is going on here?

The problem lies in the very act of observation. To "see" or measure something on the quantum level, we must interact with it, disturbing its natural state. To observe a particle, we might have to bombard i…