Quantum Physics Double Slit Experiment

The movie that this clip is taken from, is well-known for its very bad ‘science’. In the clip, they make it appear as though we can somehow “observe” the electron moving through one of the slits, without actually having an effect on the electron. But this simply isn’t the case. In order to actually detect the electron, we either need to bounce a photon off of it, or put it into proximity with a charged substance (there are indeed more complicated ways of detecting the electron – but they too, affect the quantum state through a physical interaction). When we do this, we are indeed modifying the quantum state of the electron, as we fire it through the slits. So it is not a “human observer” that causes the interference pattern to disappear – it is also not any kind of “intelligent observer”, at all, but rather, the ‘observer’ is some physical property that allows for the determination of which slit the electron went through. It can be confusing to some people, particularly when you consider the fact that it is very difficult to know when something happens, unless SOMEONE eventually observes it…. but the ideas and the mathematics behind quantum theory have no place for an “intelligent being”, or “conscious entity”. These concepts are just being injected into the theory by people who like to see more into quantum mechanics, than what is really there.