[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

> If you use big bang theory, the universe existed prior to observers perceiving it.

That would depend on the definition of perception. Does a nail perceive being struck by the hammer? To say otherwise would presume that humanity's form awareness is somehow special, and not simply a more complicated interaction between ourselves and the universe than is the nail's with the hammer.

[state_less]

I suspect you might be right, but it could water down the term. In such a case, everything is perceiving all the time.

I was using the more traditional definition of perception.

[Retra]

That's why physicists talk about interaction rather than perception.

[inopinatus]

That is exactly the intended sense of perception in my statement.

You have, er, nailed it