"....... OBSERVATIONS ARE NOT OF THINGS": RICHARD CONN HENRY
This is a return to my pet subject Realism-Materialism versus Idealism. The common perception is that science supports the former worldview. This is a wrong perception. And this has great significance for understanding advaita too.
But Physicalists-materialists-philosophical naturalists hold that objective reality, often shortened to 'Reality', is the world external to the self. This external world is called nature or the realm of the physical sciences. Things and beings that exist as such in nature are supposed to be real.
Quantum Mechanics has now shown us that so-called measurements/observations are all contextual. I cite below five papers published in Nature, with links to full papers, that indicate that the so-called realism is not tenable.
a)
The mental Universe : The Mental Universe
The author says "The only reality is mind and observations, but observations are not of things. To see the Universe as it really is, we must abandon our tendency to conceptualize observations as things."
In other words, the author points to the fact that the universe is our observation, but we forget the observation part and ascribe primacy to the 'observed'.
b)
An experimental test of non-local realism | Nature : An experimental test of non-local realism | Nature
The authors conclude that giving up the concept of locality is not sufficient to be consistent with quantum experiments unless certain intuitive features of realism are abandoned.
In other words, the authors indicate that 'locality' and 'realism', the two axioms of Physicalsitic worldview, are untenable in light of results of their experiments.
c)
Experimental non-classicality of an indivisible quantum system | Nature : Experimental non-classicality of an indivisible quantum system | Nature
The authors conclude "Our results illustrate a deep incompatibility between quantum mechanics and classical physics that cannot in any way result from entanglement.
Physicalists usually explain away the startling results of quantum mechanics by resorting to entanglement. This paper indicates that no non-contextual theory can be tenable -- there can be no a priori truth apart from the observation. All quantum theories are contextual and we surely constitute the most important context.
d)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nphys3343.pdf?proof=true : Wheeler’s delayed-choice gedanken experiment with a single atom
Manning et al., conclude "Our experiment confirms Bohr’s view that it does not make sense to ascribe the wave or particle behaviour to a massive particle before the measurement takes place."
Wheeler’s supposition that a choice affects the ‘past history’ (of the photon) has been shown to be correct in past experiments using photon paths. In this paper, authors re-demonstrate with slow-moving massive helium atom what was already known for massless fast-moving photons that a future event (the method of detection) causes the photon (or the helium atom) to decide its past.
e)
Quantum erasure with causally disconnected choice : Quantum erasure with causally disconnected choice
The paper recommends abandoning the ‘Realism’ worldview altogether, as no realistic picture is compatible with its results which hinge causally on disconnected choice.
...
So, it seems that science does not unequivocally endorse the philosophical stand that there is an objective reality 'out there'.
...
Intuitively, what could be more real than the awareness within which all objective reality is experienced? If we assume that all that we know is mediated by the electrochemical mechanism in brain, then we can never know the actual world out there. There is something out there and the brain shows you some pixelated 3D model. How do we ever know what is out there?
...
