Revisiting the Frauchiger-Renner paradox and its step by step argumentation from the perspective of each of the two Wigners and their Friends, this paper attempts to call into question the presumed priority given to the unlabelled frame of reference for the two Wigner ‘super observers’ in the main lab. Above these is the unacknowledged godlike observer frame of reference of the Narrator and the Reader of the F-R argument. Using fictionalised characters the paper follows each agent, the W’s and F’s, as they explore different possible Everettian, QBist, empirical/experimental, and quantum computing interpretations from their respective perspectives in each of the perfectly isolated labs. This paper does not argue for the primacy of any particular interpretation nor does it attempt to disprove or solve the F-R paradox, but it does posit the question concerning what the term ‘observer’ can mean from different observational perspectives. Specifically, does the assumed priority of Wigner’s perspective over that of both Friends perhaps contribute to the fundamental conceptual confusion evident in many of our debates concerning quantum foundations?
Malcolm Riddoch