Quote:
Originally Posted by Ransom
It does? If I see an airplane fly overhead, does that mean I'm interacting with it?
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All this could be understood with a little time browsing pop science sites or wikipedia. When people refer to indeterminacy - the inability to accurately measure the movement or motion of particles due to the effect of observation - it is specifically in reference to objects on the minutest scale possible, from atoms on down. An airplane is a macro object, and therefore not subject to determinacy. The whole point about quantum mechanics, which deals with such phenomena, is that what works for objects on the macro scale (you, me, airplanes) does not necessarily work on the quantum (ie micro) level, and this has been proven countless times since.
When you observe a quantum-level object - an atom - you cannot help but affect it through the act of observation, since by 'shining a light' on it, as it were, you are affecting something which is extremely sensitive to changes around it. Therefore you cannot help, by the act of observation, but to affect it.
Consider also that physics experiments have relentlessly shown that particles also cannot be accurately measured in terms of their position etc. due to their annoying habit of behaving like a wave of energy under some circumstances, and like a particle in others.