There is no friend like Wigner’s friend: Physical reality, quantum formalism, and human consciousness

Abstract

This article reconsiders the Wigner’s fried experiment and questions posed by it from a new perspective, which removes paradoxes often associated with it, beginning with those, due to the role of consciousness in quantum physics, by Wigner himself. This perpective is new for two main reasons. The first is that it is based on an interpretation of quantum phenomena and quantum mechanics (QM) that was not previously brought to bear on this experiment, an interpretation defined as a “reality without realism” (RWR) interpretation. The second is that the present interpretation additionally assumes the fundamental role of classical physics in quantum physics. This role is defined by the assumption, designated as “the Bohr postulate,” that classical physics describes observed quantum phenomena themselves and the observable parts of measuring instruments defining these phenomena. Most interpretation, beginning with that of Wigner, have by contrast assumed that all physical systems, including both human agents involved in the WF experiment are quantum systems.