Genesis by Observership
(nyb, 2002)

Duck! I've stumbled upon another theory. *happy!!*

This one is called, "Genesis by Observership".. a phrase coined by this 
90 yr old physicist named John Wheeler.. aka the "high priest of quantum 
mysteries". I had to read this article 3 times before I could begin to understand 
it enough to write about it. 

Wheeler holds that "information may not be just what we learn about the world, 
it may be what makes the world" ...that the mere act of observing it is what 
actually brings it into being! (Yeah, I know.. FREAKY! but he raises a convincing 
argument.. AND HE HAS PROOF! so please, keep an open mind and continue 
reading my very long post.)  

"The universe is built like an enormous feedback loop, a loop in which we 
contribute to the ongoing creation of not just the present and the future but to 
the past as well." 

THE PROOF:
*Enter the classic two-slit experiment*
(take this slowly)

Light has a dual nature. Sometimes light behaves like a compound particle, a 
photon; and sometimes it behaves like a wave spread out in space, just like the 
ripples in a pond. In the experiment, light (a stream of photons) shines through 
two parallel slits and hits a strip of photographic film behind the slits. The 
experiment can be run two ways; One.. With photon detectors right beside each 
slit that allow physicists to observe the photons as they pass.. 
and Two.. with the detectors removed, which allows the photons to travel 
unobserved. 

When physicists use the detectors, every photon is observed to pass through 
one slit or the other. They act as "particles".

BUT!! when the detectors are removed, something wierd happens.. a pattern of 
alternating light and dark stripes appears.. an effect that can be produced only 
if the photons are acting like waves.. with each photon spreading out and surging 
against both slits at once! Now wait a second, do you see? The slits are there in 
both demonstrations. The slits haven't moved. but in the first demonstration, 
the DETECTORS are there to OBSERVE (record) the photons pick a single slit 
and pass through it.. and WITHOUT THE DETECTORS there to OBSERVE 
them, they act as waves and hit both slits at once. FREAKY!!! 
(Read it again until it makes sense.)

Wheeler claims that our observations in the present effect how a photon behaved 
in the past. He demonstrates this in his "delayed choice experiment". (Here's 
where it really gets freaky...)

Take the two slit experiment, and we're going to make some substitutions.. On 
the far end, as our light source, we're going to use a quasar.. (a very luminous 
and remote young galaxy).. with Earth being at the opposite end of this 
experiment, acting as the photographic paper. Now for the two slits, we're going 
to substitute two other galaxies and place them between Earth and the quasar. 
(The gravity from massive objects such as galaxies can bend light, this is how 
they will substitute as the two slits.) 

Now for the detectors: a telescope will play the role of the detectors in this 
scenario. If an astronomer were to point his telescope in the direction of one 
of the two intervening galaxies, they will see photons fr/the quasar that were 
deflected by THAT galaxy.. they will get the same result by looking at the 
other galaxy. Meaning, that when observed, the photons took a singular route 
around one of the galaxies. (DON'T LOSE IT!) The astronomer would be able 
to see the photon heading towards him, from the direction of that galaxy. 

HOWEVER!! to mimic the second part of the two slit experiment, we carefully 
arrange mirrors. These mirrors make the photons arriving fr/the routes around 
both galaxies strike a piece of photographic film simultaneously. (THIS will 
make the wavelike pattern.) I know what you're thinking, "big deal, so they got 
there at the same time." JUST WAIT!

Place this quasar very distant from the Earth, with light so faint that its photons 
hit the piece of film only one at a time. The results of the experiment won't 
change. The striped, wavelike pattern will still show up, meaning that a lone 
photon not observed by the telescope will have to have traveled BOTH paths 
towards Earth, even if those paths were separated by many light years.

NOW HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS!
*Enter the godlike ability to manipulate the past through the power of 
observation*

By the time the astronomers decide which measurement to make.. whether 
to pin down the photon to one definite route, (by observing that route though 
a telescope) or to have it follow both paths simultaneously.. by NOT using 
the telescope.. (which results in the simultaneous wavelike pattern on the 
photographic paper).. the photon would have already journeyed for BILLIONS 
OF YEARS!!! DO YOU SEE?!? The measurements made NOW determine the 
photon's past!!! Look at it through a telescope.. it travels a singular course 
around a galaxy. No telescope.. it journeys simultaneously around both 
alaxies! BOOM! It's up to us. How we observe it, whether or not we choose 
to observe it, determines it's path.. determines the course it began BILLIONS 
OF YEARS AGO! 

That's quantum mechanics, friend. (or.. something.. like it)
DON'T LET IT SLIP! ><

Don't cough this off as just an idea, or a theory.. this demonstration, the 
"delayed choice scenario", was proven in a tabletop laboratory experiment 
in 1984 at the University of Maryland.

This opens a huge can of philosophical questions.. some very cool ones, which 
I'm dying to spring on you! But I'll let this soak in first, then we can have some 
cool discussions on our existence due to "God" observing us... and vice versa!!!