@Starforce I was talking about the existence of the whole universe, not a specific part of it in time and/or space. What you mean here is the classic problem: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" (btw I think Pinkie Pie said something like that in one of the Equestria Girls shorts). We can make some discoveries about distant areas (in time and space) by assuming that what we perceive here and now is a part of a bigger object called the universe, that is ruled by laws of physics that are the same everywhere. But, of course, it can also be a big illusion created to deceive us. Actually we can't be sure of anything, maybe my mind started to exist a split second ago, with all the fake memories and sensory information prepared by some twisted being, and will cease to exist a split second later. But the "standard" version of reality just seems more likely and consistent to me.

If we think about a universe in our mind, does that count as an observer? If there are unlimited universes out there, wouldn't a thought be enough to make it exist? Or does the thought have to match the exact universe in its entirety? Wait, I just answered my own question I think: If there is a universe out there that is as small as a thought about it, then it does probably exist (if a thought counts as an observer that is).

This is messing with my head

Sadly your blog entry disappeared from the main page, but I found it again through your profile @PawelS. I have been thinking about that "observer" thing...

In electricity, change is very important. If something doesn't change, it won't do anything. Kinda stands still. For example, you can (yourself) create electricity by moving the electrons in a copper wire by using a permanent magnet, but you must move either the wire, or the magnet in order to make it work. Without moving, nothing happens. Maybe an observer can be seen as something that.... changes over time? Doesn't need to be a conscious being?

Just a thought.

@Splashee Consciousness is a process, it can't "stand still". So yes, being an observer does require change, at least the way we do it. Maybe there are universes that don't have time at all, and have some sort of consciousness, but it would be much different from our own...

But I don't think change as the only requirement of "making the difference" would work, there are many things that change, but don't seem to perceive anything.