Notes from a conversation with Scott , instigated by William James :
Perception and it’s effect on reality. Sensory deprivation. Mysticism. Phantom limbs. Consensual reality.
Scientific discoveries so subtle, so far down the scale of physical things, that they exist as almost pure potential, waiting only for observation to give them shape. Going from here to the principle that the observer affects the observed, and scientific discovery approaches the level of metaphor, or creation. As a self-fulfilling prophecy, we discover what we expect to discover, because it comes into being when we look for it.
Leaving aside what this does to the freedom vs. predestination argument, this very much calls for a hard look at the scientific method, with reference to quantum physics.
More after the thunderstorm.