system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Quantum physics experiments suggest that reality doesn't exist until it is measured or observed. What the heck?
gpt
Observed does not mean by a sentient being. Observed simply means interaction in this context.

Here's an analogy:

Say you're measuring the temperature of water with a thermometer that starts off with a temperature, say 20C, and the water you're measuring has a temperature of 50C.

If you're measuring a pool, it doesn't matter. If you're measuring a tiny droplet of water, the heat of the thermometer will effect the temperature of the water!

It's like that for quantum particles. In order to measure them, we have to interact with them, which then collapses the waveform.

Note that the Heisenberg uncertainty principle has nothing to do with this.