Scientific Method Must Expand

Today's scientists - trained on the same scientific principles developed 400 years ago, are observational scientists. In the experiments they perform, they, the observer, are observing some system and making measurements on that system. Astronomers view the universe and make measurements on it based on observer based reality. Einstein solidified this observer idea when he introduced Special Relativity. He introduced two observers - one traveling at close to the speed of light and another watching him pass. He then drew relationships between what these two observers would see based on their position and velocity.

In the early days of quantum mechanical experiments, it was shown that the observer can affect the experiment. This is so because at the small size scale of these experiments, the instruments used to measure observable quantities of atomic particles, relied on small particles to relay the information. For instance, when a microscope is used to look at something, we see the light reflected off of the subject back into our eyes. This light, also known as photon particles, represents the position of the subject at the time it was reflected - but the interaction of the photon with the subject has changed the subject - it is no longer in the state we just measured. So, we have known for almost a century that the observer can affect the outcome of the experiment - but few scientists have taken the step that observers affect experiments with larger objects.

The observer-based model of the scientific method works fine for classical experiments. small modifications must be made to the model when quantum affects are to be taken into account - but the expansion of the scientific model must increase again. By way of an example, I'll illustrate.

No scientist today can prove through any kind of experiment that we dream. I dream at night, I remember them vividly, though sometimes not at all. You dream at night too. We all dream - we talk about our dreams, there are hundreds of books on dream interpretation, how to control your dreams, lucid dreams etc. Universities hold college level courses on dreams. There is no doubt we dream. But no scientist, following the current scientific method can prove it. We can measure what happens during sleep, Rapid Eye Movement for example, then wake the subject up and ask "were you just dreaming?" The multitude of recorded answers then lead one to the conclusion that we dream when certain measurable effects occur. No proof, just conjecture based on statistical evidence.

More later...