&gt; <i>With the advent of quantum mechanics they found that, in order to make sense of what their theories were saying about the subatomic world, they had to posit that the scientist-observer was actively involved in constructing reality.</i><p>Nope. This is not true. The word &quot;observer&quot; as used in quantum mechanics, is an unfortunate historical accident. The observer need not be human at all---any measurement apparatus can act as observer, and no human beings need be present at all.