Our own personal Universe

[Imaginative]

A Thought Experiment

Take four people place them at equal distance apart in a circle at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock positions. In the centre of the circle is a rock, and everyone agrees that they see the rock. They each see the rock because photons are bouncing off it heading for each person’s eyes where the photons are converted into an image in their minds. So far so good.

Because each person is positioned differently, the photons entering their heads produce a different view of the rock. Again, they all agree that they see the same thing. But do they actually see the exact same thing, remember, each of us has our own unique subjective experience of the world and the physical objects it contains, including ourselves.

Let’s say I join the group, we now have 5 observers. The photons entering my eyes that allow me to see the rock are as unique to me as are the photons entering the other people's eyes in the group. I now also agree that I can see the rock.

What I think could be happening is : The rock is in a superimposed position, meaning there are 5 versions of it coexisting in space in the exact same position corresponding to the 5 observers viewing it. What this allows us to do is share the same physical reality with our own subjective experience of it but inhabit our own personal universe.

 

[Tricky]

This is just another version of

The Blind Man and the Elephant

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant~(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation~Might satisfy his mind.


The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side, ~ At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant ~ Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! what have we here?
So very round and smooth and sharp? ~ To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant ~ Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, ~ Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant ~ Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like ~ Is mighty plain," quoth her;
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant ~ Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most; ~ Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant ~ Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail ~ That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant ~ Is very like a rope!

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion ~ Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right ~ And all were in the wrong!

Moral
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
-----------------John Godfrey Saxe

 

[MRC_Hans]

*quote*
What I think could be happening is : The rock is in a superimposed position, meaning there are 5 versions of it coexisting in space in the exact same position corresponding to the 5 observers viewing it. What this allows us to do is share the same physical reality with our own subjective experience of it but inhabit our own personal universe.

That is an unparsimonious model. It is simpler to assume that there is one true rock, and that each observer observes a subset of that one true rock. This model predicts that if the observers swap positions, they will also be observing the same substed of the rock as the previous holder of the position. ... Which I'm sure you will agree is what will happen.


Hans

 

[Bikewer]

I was just going to go searching for "the blind men and the elephant" when I read Tricky's post.

Quite right (as usual), Hans.

 

[Imaginative]

This is just another version of

Hi Tricky

Core bligh me mate, you were quick, thanks for the lovely poem though, I really liked that.

Sorry to have reinvented the wheel, I am relatively new here after all.

Anyways, as they say, 'great minds.......' blah, blah, blah.

 

[Tricky]

Hi Tricky

Core bligh me mate, you were quick, thanks for the lovely poem though, I really liked that.

Sorry to have reinvented the wheel, I am relatively new here after all.

Anyways, as they say, 'great minds.......' blah, blah, blah.

Welcome aboard, mate. What you'll find is that everything important has been said here somewhere, sometime. But, being simple folk, the old stories still have the power to excite us.

I remember that poem from earliest childhood. It wasn't until I was a bit older that I realized the significance of it. (In the kid-lit books, it was always printed without the "moral" verse. Too anti-religious for textbooks, I suppose.)