Page 626 - Atlas of Creation Volume 4

According to quantum physics, the existence of matter is de-
pendent on the existence of a “perceiver.” For example,
when we are looking at the Moon, the possibility wave of the
body we perceive as the Moon collapses and the wave no
longer exists in space-time. According to quantum physics,
the Moon is not in the sky so long as there is no observer!

This, of course, applies to our perceptual world. The existence of the Moon is of course obvious in
the outside world. But when we look at it, all we actually encounter is our own perception of the Moon.

Jeffrey M. Schwartz included these lines regarding the fact demonstrated by quantum physics in his
book The Mind and the Brain:

The role of observation in quantum physics cannot be emphasized too strongly. In classical physics [New-
tonian physics], observed systems have an existence independent of the mind that observes and probes
them. In quantum physics, however, only through an act of observation does a physical quantity come to

have an actual value. 18
Schwartz also summarized the views of various physicists on the subject:

As Jacob Bronowski wrote in The Ascent of Man,

“One aim of the physical sciences has been to give an exact picture of the material world. One achievement
of physics in the twentieth century has been to prove that that aim is unattainable.” . . . Heisenberg said the
concept of objective reality “has thus evaporated.“ Writing in 1958, he admitted that “the laws of nature
which we formulate mathematically in quantum theory deal no longer with the particles themselves but

624 Atlas of Creation Vol. 4