Essential structure in physical observation

At the heart of any process of observation there are certain basic things which must happen. These might be analysed in abstract terms, or then again in terms of the quantum physical irreducibles. The paper links between these concerns. It starts by exploring the macroscopic processes which are essential to observation and from there it develops the outline of a path heading towards a continuum based model of quantum mechanics, and in particular, electrodynamics. It exposes attributes which are fundamental to the existence of an observer process, and then explores how the seat of those attributes may be found in the way we set‐up our notion of the basic properties of physical reality. Such a model is offered as a contribution to what is called “second‐order cybernetics”, namely the study of how we go about observing the observer process.