Part 4/7:
To bolster these ideas, Shulman references the double slit experiment, a pivotal test in quantum physics. Originally set up by Thomas Young in 1801 and later adapted for modern scientific inquiry, this experiment exemplifies how observation affects reality. When photons are fired toward barriers with two slits, they can create an interference pattern, indicating wave-like behavior if unobserved. However, when observed, they behave as individual particles.
This observation leads to the assertion that reality at the quantum level is not fixed until we observe it. In a way, by acting as observers, we collapse the potentiality inherent in quantum particles into definite states.