On 29-jun-04, at 22:53, David Barak wrote:
Einstein taught as that even the simple act of observation influences our surroundings. Wouldn't it make sense to try to leverage this influence such that the future is shaped more to our liking, however small the change may be?
nitpick: it wasn't Einstein, but rather Heisenberg who developed the uncertainty principle.
Einstein's take on this was to ridicule it somewhat: "When a person such as a mouse observes the universe, does that change the state of the universe?"
The principle has been analogized to describe larger systems and items, and is a useful but not always completely accurate metaphor. It is entirely possible to observe some things without affecting them.
Is it? If I want to look at you, I must bounce photons off of you. Similar stuff needs to happen for other types of observation. This may not have a very large effect on you, but there is _some_ effect.