We need to distinguish between two things: esoteric influences from consiousness on the behaviour of matter and the problem that the formulation of quantum mechanics how it is actually used in the labs presupposes an observer by having concepts like “measurement” as primitives. The first is clearly woo and I don’t know any serious physicist who has defended it. The second is an ongoing matter of scientific investigation.
The Sequences make it seem like the Many Worlds interpretation has solved this problem but that’s not true. First, the viability of the technical work of the Many Worlds people is debated and second, the observer-centric Copenhagen interpretation has evolved into more solid versions like Quantum Bayesianism. Besides the interesting name it also has a catchy phrase: “Quantum mechanics is a user’s manual.”
tl;dr: The position that quantum mechanics involves consiousness because its fundamental objects are not ontic but epistemic still plays an important role.
I think that this post is partly misleading.
We need to distinguish between two things: esoteric influences from consiousness on the behaviour of matter and the problem that the formulation of quantum mechanics how it is actually used in the labs presupposes an observer by having concepts like “measurement” as primitives. The first is clearly woo and I don’t know any serious physicist who has defended it. The second is an ongoing matter of scientific investigation.
The Sequences make it seem like the Many Worlds interpretation has solved this problem but that’s not true. First, the viability of the technical work of the Many Worlds people is debated and second, the observer-centric Copenhagen interpretation has evolved into more solid versions like Quantum Bayesianism. Besides the interesting name it also has a catchy phrase: “Quantum mechanics is a user’s manual.”
tl;dr: The position that quantum mechanics involves consiousness because its fundamental objects are not ontic but epistemic still plays an important role.