[X] My Assistant

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Overly hyped by the pop media (the story is one of CNN.com's headliners right now), but interesting nonetheless. Any real physicists have some insights/explanations to share?

Quantum phenomena give me a headache that is both painful and enjoyable at the same time...unless I try to analyze it, then it's one or the other. Anybody got some Excedrin H?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/10/04...reut/index.html

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Agreed...but, to take interpretation of that principle to an extreme, I steer clear of the "anthropic principle" and all of its somewhat grandiose implications.

Observation can be defined as interaction alone (e.g., a virtual photon strikes an instrument lens, or a rock, or whatever and thus becomes "real"). Intelligence may be necessary to interpret the Universe, but the most basic interactions seem to be the only precondition required for the Universe to exist in a meaningful form.