ABSTRACT
A scientist is really an observer/interpreter, taking note of his or her surroundings and then trying to interpret those observations in some greater context. A scientist might see the mating behavior of a nematode in terms of chemical attractants. On the other hand, an artist might paint a picture of a scene or write a poem about it, depicting his/her own reactions to the scene. There are some interesting relationships between the processes of observation and interpretation. This chapter examines some consequences of this interdependency. The egg example demonstrates a very fundamental principle: what something "is" is in large measure dependent on the observation process itself. This has the far-reaching consequence of making "reality" relative, i.e., relative to the observation process. The observer can never be totally detached from the observation process because he or she chooses the means of making the observation, and that in turn determines the nature of the object observed.
