---
title: "Observer effect · Library · Simulation Hypothesis"
url: https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/observer-effect
description: "In quantum mechanics, the observer effect is the way measuring a system disturbs it."
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
credit: "Ross Allan Dahl, Simulation Hypothesis (simulation-hypothesis.com)"
---

## Quantum mechanics

# Observer effect

Definition

In quantum mechanics, the observer effect is the way measuring a system disturbs it. People often mix it up with consciousness causing collapse, which few physicists accept.

On this site

The Observation dial is about how much attention a renderer spends, not about minds collapsing wave functions.

Role in the model

The Observation dial is about how much attention the renderer spends, not about consciousness collapsing the wave function. The sandbox keeps the two apart on purpose, because most physicists reject the popular version of the observer effect.

Related

[The measurement problem](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/measurement-problem)[Level of detail (LOD)](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/level-of-detail)

## The people behind the terms

14 short pages, one per thinker, each with its matching dial. See also the [reading list](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/reading).

[Plato’s cave](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/plato)[Zhuangzi’s butterfly](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/zhuangzi)[Vasubandhu’s dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/vasubandhu)[Shankara’s māyā](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/shankara)[al-Ghazali’s doubt](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ghazali)[Ibn Arabi’s imagination](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ibn-arabi)[Calderón’s life is a dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/calderon)[Descartes’ demon](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/descartes)[Berkeley’s perceiver](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/berkeley)[Borges’ circular ruins](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/borges)[Nozick’s experience machine](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/nozick)[Putnam’s brain in a vat](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/putnam)[Bostrom’s trilemma](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/bostrom)[Chalmers: virtual worlds are real](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/chalmers)