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“The wavefunction tells us where we might potentially find an electron when we look; but what we do find in any given experiment is random, and we can’t meaningfully say why we find it here rather than there.”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird

“[T]he wavefunction of the electron in [a] box can penetrate into the walls. If the walls aren’t too thick, the wavefunction can actually extend right through them, so that it still has a non-zero value on the outside. What this tells you is that there is a small chance â€� equal to the amplitude of the wavefunction squared in that part of space â€� that if you make a measurement of where the electron is, you might find it within the wall, or even outside the wall.”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird

“The wavefunction of superposed states doesn’t say anything about what the photon is ‘likeâ€�. It is a tool for letting you predict what you will measure. And what you will measure for a superposed state like this is that sometimes the measurement device registers a photon with a vertical polarization, and sometimes with a horizontal one. If the superposed state is described by a wavefunction that has an equal weighting of the vertical and horizontal wavefunctions, then 50% of your measurements will give the result ‘verticalâ€� and 50% will indicate ‘horizontalâ€�. If you accept Bohr’s rigour/complacency (delete to taste), we don’t need to worry what the superposed state ‘isâ€� before making a measurement, but can just accept that such a state will sometimes give us one result and sometimes another, with a probability defined by the weightings of the superposed wavefunctions in the Schrödinger equation. It all adds up to a consistent picture.”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird

“Wavefunction collapse is a generator of knowledge: it is not so much a process that gives us the answers, but is the process by which answers are created. The outcome of that process can’t, in general, be predicted with certainty, but quantum mechanics gives us a method for calculating the probabilities of particular outcomes. That’s all we can ask for.”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird

“We know that measurements of a quantum system seem to collapse the wavefunction. We most certainly don’t know how, or why, or indeed if that actually happens.”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird

“Decoherence is what destroys the possibility of observing macroscopic superpositions â€� including Schrödinger’s live/dead cat. And this has nothing to do with observation in the normal sense: we don’t need a conscious mind to ‘lookâ€� in order to ‘collapse the wavefunctionâ€�. All we need is for the environment to disperse the quantum coherence. This happens with extraordinary efficiency â€� it’s probably the most efficient process known to science. And it is very clear why size matters here: there is simply more interaction with the environment, and therefore faster decoherence, for larger objects.”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird

“The soul is simply a transcendent quantum wavefunction of the mind that docks with the immanent quantum wavefunction of a spacetime body. Why would anyone find that baffling? One day, it will be regarded along the lines of 1 + 1 = 2. There will be children in the future who are taught this in primary school and who will never once doubt the existence of the eternal, monadic soul. It will be the most certain fact in their lives, with all the math to prove it.”
― Steve Madison, Soul Science: Know Your Soul