If no one is looking at an object, is it still there?

Question

If no one is looking at an object, is it still there?

Answer 1

An interesting question. I think this rather depends on which way you approach it, and what it is you're not looking at. John Bell, creator of Bell's theorem, has shown that particles such as photons and electrons exist as probability waves when not observed. So an electron of certain measured properties, did not exist as an electron of those properties until it was actually observed. This, however, does not say that the electron doesn't exist, just that its properties are not fixed. This also includes its location.

However, aside from this, it is quite apparent the universe has existed before there were human beings to observe it, and that processes occurred including the ones which were necessary for our existence to come about. So I would say that in some sense the universe has to have existence without observation, and the objects within it.

The problem is mainly with how you would measure something without actually observing it.

Answer 2

Let's say you are looking at a chicken. It's an object because you have focussed your attention on it. It is the object of your attention. You have mentally isolated it from the continuum of reality and made it an "object". Now, is this chicken-object real or imagined? Well, if you pick up the chicken and hold it you can sense it with all your senses, and unless for some reason you cannot distinguish between the real and the imagined, I think you can safely say the chicken is real. But the problem is that your perception of a physical object might not be an accurate representation of its reality. The chicken, a physical object, is to you only a perceived chicken. It stimulates your sensory organs, which then send biochemical impulses through your nervous system to your brain, which then uses those impulses as information to construct a mental chicken-image. So the chicken is, for you, a neurological event. And the chicken is, in the objective world, a cloud of atoms. And it's much more empty space than atoms. A cloud of atoms held together by some fundamental forces, and so configured that it will stimulate your senses in a way unique to chickens. But how might this cloud of atoms be perceived by a being with a radically different brain and sensorium? If you hand your chicken to an alien being from a galaxy far far away who just landed in your back yard and say "this is a chicken", his chicken-experience will not be your chicken-experience even though you are both perceiving the very same atom cloud. It certainly seems that there is a shared reality, an objective world of material stuff, which serves as a source for our personal inner worlds of images, concepts, and emotions. Suppose you put the chicken down and close your eyes and cover your ears. Does the chicken cease to exist? The chicken-experience ceases, at least as an immediate neurological event, because the atom cloud is no longer stimulating your senses. Your chicken-experience will, however, continue as a memory-chicken, unless you re-focus your mind and make something else your object-of-attention. Then your chicken-experience will altogether cease. But your chicken-experience is not, and can never be, the real chicken. The real chicken, if we choose to call it that, is an ephemeral cloud of atoms. And does this cloud of atoms exist only when it is stimulating your nervous system? I think it must exist independently from your perceptions of it, otherwise the entire universe is a figment of your imagination. And that would mean you're all alone, nothing existing but your thoughts, and that would be a very sad state of affairs, wouldn't it? Now, suppose you choose to limit the definition of the word "chicken" so that it refers only to your mental chicken-experience and excludes the atom cloud. Then, the chicken would cease to exist when you stop perceiving and recalling it. The atom cloud would still be there, but it would not be a chicken. It would, perhaps, be a chicken-making atom cloud, but it would not be a chicken. But suppose you broaden your definition of "chicken" to include the atom cloud. Now, when you close your eyes, the chicken is still there because you call that particular sort of atom cloud a "chicken". It's a semantic thing. By the way, you're a cloud of atoms and mostly empty space, too. Everything is. And is it not most extraordinary that something which is 99.999+% empty space can exist as a conscious, thinking, feeling human being? Or a chicken? Or anything else? I think it is. We are like ghosts, more nothing than something. That we and this world exist as we do is truly a mystery most profound.

Answer 3

For more than 12 billion years before humankind evolved, the universe existed and, as we have no reliable, verifiable and/or quantifiable evidence that any sentient alien life forms exit, we may assume that no one was looking at the universe yet it obviously existed.

From such, we may postulate that objects do not have to be observed so as to exist.

As further proof, stand next to a wall in your house and close your eyes. Then, reach out and touch the wall that you can not see or, blind fold yourself and walk around both inside and outside of your residence. You will soon find that the unseen world of physical manifestations does, in fact and indeed, exist.

This may lead one to question then if that which transcends reality, such as an invisible, anthropomorphic deity might then exist, or anything that transcends physically manifested reality. The answer to such would be no.

That which we opine to exist that does not have a physical manifestation is merely an expression of our own desires or our imagination having only the meaning and value we have given to the same.

Answer 4

Good question. Is the object aware of itself? An object is its own awareness. As well, the object cannot be identified. Really, the illusion is ourself and the most beautiful thing.. that we touch the world from within. To be is the most wonderful feeling, not easy to say what it is.



If you took the Schrodingers Cat idea.. Cat in the box, in an hour theres a 50% chance it dies. What happens to the cat? Well, there's a splitting of what may happen, creating separate probability timelines. Yet, from the cats perspective, it could be absolute that the cat stays alive, regardless of how many hours it stays, as it's awareness being the only place from which the universe is.



Yet, there are puzzling assumptions to this.

Answer 5

This goes in the same category as, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around will it make a sound". I personally believe an object would be there for sometime there is evidence to prove that the object was there and acted upon something. For example, you left the stove on and you came back to find your house on fire. That would prove the objet would still be there.

Answer 6

If you die today is the bed your lying in still exist ? Yes but not to you its no longer relative ......... but your not the only person in the world ...Your question isn't about the object but how humans perceive their importance...and their existence ........If humans ceased to exist would the earth and the planets still exist ? to an ant it would or a cow or a mouse sometimes we forget we are not alone on the planet and most likely the universe ........consciousness says I am therefore I exist but it only really says i am aware i am alive . and my form .................take a Styrofoam cup in the garbage heap can we agree that it most likely will take years to decompose but you know it is there without seeing it ...so only knowing how long that is when you check to see if its still l there . (time) . does it exist in its ORIGINAL form ? NO once decomposed it returns to what it was made of it has broken down to its original components...the concept that matter can not be created nor destroyed ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...so its not about the object but about YOUR existence and time and the concept that you are relative and you exist not the object ......some people live in the reality of space and time and some people choose to hold concepts that consciousness never ceases as in a afterlife an age old question battled by many they fall in two categories some say theist and atheist ...some would say realist and spiritualist ...so to either one I ask is the Styrofoam cup still there depends on your perspective the realist says its not relative to Me I no longer have conscious nor exist in my original form and just as the Styrofoam cup have decomposed to my essential components my reality has ended ......... the spiritualist says i retain my consciousness and therefore maintain my importance ,,the Styrofoam cup is not relative .......Then my question is do you exist in reality without form and is your importance maintained ............ and are you relative ...... and to what are you relative ? Relevance defined as meaningful or purposeful Next issue energy can not be created nor destroyed only change form ...the realist says your life energy when you dies changes form to heat and leaves your body and is transferred to other objects say the bed you died in ,,The spiritualist says that energy is your consciousness so does energy = consciousness ...one must define conscious ? aware of ones own existence ..thoughts are thoughts real ? psychology says they are not real for they do not exist outside the body so they are not real .. so how does consciousness exist without the origin of its manufacturer the mind (chemical processes ) and consciousness defines your existence so back to energy ..does it have consciousness lets look at it from the realist .NO is my flashlight battery conscious ..my oven ..the light bulb ... Yes the object ( non living ) is there whether or not you are ( Living ) ( your life span) but it is also limited by time for it may not always be in its original form over time

Answer 7

Of course.



If you're the only person in a room and walk backwards, you can and will trip over an object you were not looking at.



No one was looking at it, but since you tripped over it, it was clearly still there.

Answer 8

On DR Who, with the angels. Did they cease to exist by not looking at them. Could this same concept be attributed to another Sci-Fi creature? Were they called the nothing from the same TV series?





If a tree in a forest falls, but no one is there to hear it. Does it still make a sound? Think; peace!

Answer 9

As Zaphod says. The entire universe existed for billions of years before it became remotely possible for anything living to exist. For some billions, there was nothing more complex than a hydrogen atom.

Even after 2nd and 3rd generation stars with complex, rocky planets came to be, it would be billions more before any living thing evolved sufficiently to have any sort of consciousness.

Answer 10

Of course it is but I do wonder how you know nobody is looking at an object since someone would have to be looking to tell that it existed at all or at least saw consequences of its existence as with sub-atomic particles etc.

Answer 11

If you are not looking at an object .How would you know its not there? You don't have to look at an object to know its there.

Answer 12

Yes. Just like a tree falling will make a sound even when there's no one to hear it. the physical laws of science do not change based on whether there's a human being (or animal) around to witness it.

Answer 13

Yes

Answer 14

Yes. The universe behaves as if objects continue existing when they are not being observed. That's what keeps objects in place when we stop looking at them, so we can look at them later. It's the reason why we can set something on fire, leave, and come back and see ashes (and therefore infer that unobserved events took place).



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhC1AZr7Nn8

Answer 15

On the basis that you are reading my answer to your question, and that you have not been looking at me, suggests to me that I was here all the time. Indeed, here I am in my reality, in our collective reality linked digitally, even if I have not been in your perception since you asked.

The fact that you asked also suggests to me that you exist when I am not looking. In terms of quantum physics and sub nuclear particles the situation may be a little more complicated!

Answer 16

Nobody knows I guess! Looking at an object is the only proof that it is still present, however when you look away, you have no evidence suggesting that it is still present!

Answer 17

Yes, but only if that object actually exists.

Answer 18

yes

Answer 19

i doubt it - like schroedingers cat doesnt

Answer 20

this is the age old question that they always ask. i think you have to say yes it is there, because how could we trust anything we know of the world if that was not the case. presumably the physical world has been around since long before human beings were ever around to observe it.

Answer 21

yes

Answer 22

Before there was a human being, the world already existed. So even if no human was looking at the objects in the universe, said objects were still there. Their existence was/is pursuant to the will of God who sustained them, not to the awareness of a human being who is himself an "object" in the generic sense.

Answer 23

Does anyone actually read hundreds of answers? What's the point of one more?

Another stupid idea from the mediocre minds at Yahoo!

Answer 24

DEEP THOUGHTS

Answer 25

My little answer....of course not, it disappeared in the DREAM



(An G and P, we British say...You deserved that, 'cos you don't mention the other past answers to this question..including my (failed) Critical Rational -

previous effort ).



Happy - New - Year, from at least one Popper-ian.

Answer 26

The question seems to imply that it was there when you last looked, if this is the case then it should still be there where you last saw it, unless someone moved it whilst you were not looking,

Answer 27

Yes of course. You simply are just not looking at it. When you look away from a conversation does that person disappear?

Answer 28

Does it really matter whether the object is there or not if no one is looking at it?

Answer 29

Hi Goodness and peace, finally we have to reach at this. This entire cosmos is only because of your observation. As far as you are concerned, the cosmos is yours and you are the creator of this entire cosmos. As the very "I" disappears then cosmos vanishes. It may look philosophical yet it is true even scientifically.

Answer 30

Experiments in Quantum Physics show that observation does indeed outcome.

Answer 31

I have stubbed my toe a few times and would have to say a most assuredly yes! Even when looking it can be in the dark!

Answer 32

impossible to know. I think that the object's existence depends on if it's being thought about.

Answer 33

Yes, it is still present, like nobody was around to see the Earth get created, it still happened.

Answer 34

Yes. Ignore all the philosophy mumbo jumbo. It is still there and yes the tree makes a noise when it falls.

Answer 35

I OBJECT to those who answer that OBJECT is till there.

Answer 36

Yes it is still there. Even Schrodinger will admit to that, he just doesn't admit we can know what state it is in.

Answer 37

Yes.

Answer 38

obviously if nobody is looking, it disappears because object are only visible through the magicalness of our lookingness and im so scientific deal with it

Answer 39

Yes. Ever knock down a vase?

Answer 40

I think GEICO definitively answered this one. When a tree falls in the forest the sound it makes is "Need some help here! Anybody??"

Answer 41

The observation of a thing is not the cause of its physical presence in the universe. It must first exist in order to be observed.

Answer 42

Yes. You can't see me right now. No one can see me right now, because I'm by myself in my room, but I'm still right here. I still exist.

Answer 43

If you're looking for your glasses, check your face first

Answer 44

As far as I can tell the most complete, concise definition of reality is, logical continuity. physical continuous existence is an aspect of it.

Answer 45

Hiding in plane sight , life is full of the truth . hiding in plane sight is the easiest way to sneek around . just because you didn't notice didn't meen it wasn't there ,hopeing you wouldn't .

Answer 46

No it is not. The uncertainty principle is the scientific explanation of this phenomena. Naive physics are no substitute for the real thing.

Answer 47

Nothing unreal exists, and nothing exists until it is observed, smelled, heard, tasted or felt...So as far as you're aware....That menacingly loud smelly vaporous flatulence I just released (that is currently making my dog gag) Does not exist in your world.

Answer 48

if you don't participate in life does the life go on? yes! so the answer is just because ur not looking at the obect, its still there.

Answer 49

Existence does not depend on a witness.

Answer 50

Existence is not dependent on the awareness and observation of a person.

Answer 51

Why not? What's one thing got to do with the other?

Answer 52

If you are alone do you still exist as far as other people are concerned ?

Answer 53

I say...yes.I disagree with that whole "it doesn't exist til I look at it" type of physics.Turn your back on a black hole,and see if it doesn't suck you in!

Answer 54

You have the wrong verb. Not "Looking", you should have used "Perceiving." Anything not perceived by ANYONE doesn't exist. For example, if no one smells your fart, then you didn't cut one. :-)

Answer 55

yes or it is not an object.

Answer 56

Close your eyes and drop a hammer on your toes.

Answer 57

yea just cause I'm not looking at you doesn't mean your not there...unless I'm stuck in the twilight zone

Answer 58

yes

Answer 59

Yes, but it doesn't count.

Answer 60

yes

Answer 61

I am not looking at yoo. Are you still there?

Answer 62

Girls have ******* even if you can't get a look at it.

Answer 63

Yep.

Answer 64

Then the real question is: Is reality real or is it imagined by the mind? Are we real? Our thoughts?

Answer 65

yes it is it is just not flamboyant enough to attract attention

Answer 66

Sure thing....think AIR!

Answer 67

I am agree with theresa.

Answer 68

Yes.

Ask a blind person.

Answer 69

yes, but it has no significance

Answer 70

I am, therefore I see.

Answer 71

You mean like God, or Allah?

Answer 72

YES

Answer 73

YES

Answer 74

probably

Answer 75

no

Answer 76

no

Answer 77

maybe not.

Answer 78

Of course it is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!