What I don't understand is why we call it "observation" when it should really be "interaction". The quantum weirdness resulting from the collapse of probabilities has nothing to do with a conscious observer, just whether and at what point the phenomena in question interact with something else in an observable way.
> What I don't understand is why we call it "observation" when it should really be "interaction" […] at what point the phenomena in question interact with something else in an observable way.
That’s why. If it’s observable it could be observed by an observer in an observation.
Because when an object "interacts" with another object, it goes into a quantum superposition with that object. It is only when we observe that we don't see the superposition.
The obvious implication that people don't like to talk about is that there is nothing special about observation, it is just that our own body goes into superposition and we only subjectively experience one of the quantum states.
> there is nothing special about observation [...] we only subjectively experience one of the quantum states
That subjective experience seem something special!
There is nothing special about quantum superpositions - they are pure quantum states like any other. They are superpositions when we consider them in a particular basis. How does the subjective experience project your body - and the rest of the universe - onto one element of the right basis?
