Quantum Physics--Heisenberg Uncertianty Principle

"...there are no disinterested observers in the world, only engaged participants.
 
    ...In 1927 the German physicist Werner Heisenberg demonstrated that it is not possible to measure accurately all the properties of a single subatomic particle because the action of making measurements causes unpredictable changes in the very system being measured.  In order to make any kind of measurement, an observer has to add some kind of energy somewhere--for example, if we want to use a ruler to measure the length of a piece of wood, we need to shine enough light on the ruler to be able to read the scale.  We do not normally notice the effect of such a simple act, but at the incredibly tiny scale of atomic physics even minuscule infusions of energy cause dramatic effects.  So the energy used to measure the location and speed of a moving electron causes it to change course, which means we can only determine the speed and location it had before we touched it.

   Until Heisenberg's discovery one of the fundamental assumptions of science was that good researchers would always be objective, uninvolved, standing outside the systems they sought to study.  It was almost as though the entire universe were sealed in a sterile bubble while scientist somehow stood on the outside--looking in, observing, making notes, learning, but never interacting.  Any involvement of the researcher in the system might invalidate the results of the experiment.

   But the Uncertainty Principle, although it essentially applied only to the very limited field of quantum physics, blew a hole right through this assumption.  The effects of this simple discovery are still being felt across the natural sciences to the present day.  Heisenberg had demonstrated that, in the end, pure objectivity is impossible.  We are involved in the universe, intricately bound into the whole system, and our every act affects both us and the universe around us--even the act of trying to study the universe disinterestedly and objectively.  We cannot help being engaged.  We are never silent watchers on the sidelines, but always participants, whether we like it or not."

an excerpt taken from The Fire of the Word by Chris Webb