Title: Q & A: Observer Effect? | Department of Physics | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Headings: 
Q & A: Observer Effect?
Follow-Up #1: quantum
Follow-Up #2: observation and light
Follow-Up #3: measurement and consciousness?
Follow-Up #4: free-will?
Follow-Up #5: confusion between the uncertainty principle and the observer effect
Follow-Up #6: Quantum for the non-scientist
Follow-Up #7: Unconscious observers
Follow-Up #8: Bell's Inequalities and free will
Follow-Up #9: free will and quantum mechanics
Follow-Up #10: what collapses wavefunction?
Follow-Up #11: What causes quantum interference loss

Content: Mike W.
(published on 08/24/2010)
Follow-Up #5: confusion between the uncertainty principle and the observer effect
Q: There's a lot of confusion between the uncertainty principle and the observer effect, leading to the new age, nonsensical claim that we can willfully create the world around us by altering our thoughts. So, to be clear (because there's a lot of conflicting info out there), when we talk about "observing" an electron and thereby changing its state, we're talking about using equipment to measure it, not simply observing with the naked eye, right? - Ian (age 29)
California
A: Right, we have no indication at all that interaction with conscious beings (e.g. us) does something different than interaction with any other large object in which some record is left of the results. Of course, the only events we are aware of are those of which we are aware, but we can leave that worry for the philosophers. At any rate, the structure of quantum mechanics, in particular its violation of the Bell Inequalities, would run into big trouble if the random outcomes of quantum events were influenced by any local variable, including human will. So you're right on all your key points. Nevertheless, there is a relation between the "observer effect" and the uncertainty principle.