It's been a long time since I read about this so forgive me if I get some
details incorrect here, but the point should be
intact. It should also be noted that the
experiment described here can and has been reproduced many times, all with the same
result.
A couple of
scientists setup a simple experiment: they placed a piece of
thick cardboard, with two horizontal slits cut out, between a light source and a flat, blank surface. The idea was that the cardboard would allow the light to
shine onto the surface in the slitted pattern that was cut out in the cardboard. The results were
interesting.
The light pattern on the surface was of many horizontal slits rather than just two. The scientists were so
puzzled at this that they setup a device to measure the light coming through the cardboard so they could
analyze it and
see what was happening. The light-measuring
device in no way would affect the light, only measure it. When they performed the experiment while measuring the light they found that the multiple slits
changed to a
big blob of light on the surface and that the device measured the light as a big blob, not multiple
slits. The scientists removed
the device and again the slits appeared on the surface in place of the blob. The scientists decided to try one more thing.
They
predetermined a
set of trials where they would only look at the results during certain trials while during the rest they would
erase the measured results before they looked at them. The result was that
every time they looked at the
measurement, the light would appear as a blob on the surface and be measured at a blob, but every time they erased the measurement they blob would become multiple slits. The only difference between the trials was the
predetermined factor of looking at the measured results, yet the
physical attributes of the light shining on the surface would actually change
because of this. They brought in another scientist who's
specialty was in
space-time theory stuff.
His conclusion -- and the two scientists agreed with this -- was that their
perception of reality was changed based on knowledge they would
later have. Simply put, what you will know in the future can affect the present.
Crazy.
As a
little background, the third space-time
theorist already believed in an alternative theory on how space-time works: Space-time is made up of many,
many universes (
dimensions) that are each completely still and void of the
perception of the
movement of time. Our perception of realtiy is based on time moving forward, but that's really our perception
moving between dimensions, each being slightly different than the one we just left, kind of like
cartoon frames moving to create the
illusion of movement. That theory seriously challenges the idea of
time moving in a straight line as most people think it does and also provides a
biased relevance to the above experiment, but it does
force you to think.