This is continuing from the discussion on George Ellis' essay thread from Thomas Howard Ray Nov. 5, 2012 @ 11:23 GMT to Georgina Parry Nov. 7, 2012 @ 20:13 GMT
Concerning the logic of the RICP framework Cf liar paradox and Barber variant. Which is a continuation from earlier discussion on George Ellis's thread
Tom ,
I'm not sure the Barber problem is an exact parallel I'll have to think about it.
Yes the Barber is part of the Object reality as he is a flesh and blood organism so made of atoms -a material thing. He is not a part of his own image reality unless looking in a mirror. So I suppose looking in the mirror is like the act of shaving himself and yes only at that time is he part of his own image reality.
Re. The Image reality: it is as you have stated Quote: "The entire reality is observer-created". The sources of the data though and the data itself that will form that manifestation have independent existence in the environment. What will become the manifestation depends upon what data is received and that relies not just upon the observer's actions but the physics of how potential sensory data spreads through the environment. Whether he is or is not part of the observed manifestation is a matter of choice to look or not to look in the mirror.
We might consider the supposition of states that you mention -if a second observer is brought in to observer the first observer; first observer is seated in front of a mirror and may have eyes open or closed. Rather than blinking maybe he is tired and shuts his eyes every so often for a few seconds. Now the second observer does not know if first has eyes open or closed until he looks and fabricates an output manifestation from the received data showing the state of the first observer.
There is a supposition of states because within the external environment there is data that will give eyes open manifestation and data that will give eyes closed manifestation. Which data is received depends upon where the second observer is and when he looks. So determined not just by the first observer data source and second observer data recipient but also by the way in which the data is distributed through the environment.
The wave function collapse occurs when we stop considering the observer independent external environment and consider the singular output manifestation of the second observer. If second observer sees a manifestation of eyes closed he thinks that the first observer is not seeing himself within his Image reality and if there is a manifestation of eyes open he will assume first observer is seeing himself in his own image reality.
Though the truth will depend upon the correlation between what is observed and what is occurring in Object reality, as there may be a transmission delay that causes the second observers manifestation to be out of synchronisation with the Image reality perceived by the first observer. For example if the second observer is remotely located and viewing a video feed. It is not a simply that the manifestation and the 'knowledge' it provides is true or false but it depends. I think this is highlighting a problem with naive 'black and white' assumptions. The truth is not just in the appearances alone but correlation of the image with the foundational reality.
