The Double-Slit Experiment Of Quantum Theory Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [4]

Gribbin (1990: 171):

We can try cheating — shutting or opening one of the holes quickly while the electron is in transit through the apparatus.  It doesn't work — the pattern on the screen is always the "right" one for the state of holes at the instant the electron was passing through.   

We can try peeking, to "see" which hole the electron goes through.  When the equivalent of this experiment is carried out, the result is even more bizarre.   

Imagine an arrangement that records which hole an electron goes through but lets it pass on its way to the detector screen.  Now the electrons behave like normal, self-respecting everyday particles.  We always see electrons at one hole or the other, never both at once.  And now the pattern that builds up on the detector screen is exactly equivalent to the pattern for bullets [i.e. for particles, not waves], with no trace of interference.  The electrons not only know whether or not both holes are open, they know whether or not we are watching them, and they adjust their behaviour accordingly.  There is no clearer example of the interaction of the observer with the experiment.

Blogger Comment:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, this result is not at all bizarre. Construing experience as an instance of an electron going through one hole reduces the potential of the electron going through the other hole to a probability of zero, and the statistical distribution of all such instances reflects this.  Electrons don't need to "know" anything, and the "interaction of the observer with the experiment" is the construing of experience as meaning.