From the perspective of the Copenhagen interpretation, this is like a debate about whether ‘consciousness updates the prior’, in which ‘the prior’ is treated as a physical entity which exists independently of observers and their ignorance.
In the Copenhagen interpretation—at least as originally intended! - a wavefunction is not a physical state. It is instead like a probability distribution.
From this perspective, the mystery of quantum mechanics is not, why do wavefunctions collapse? It is, why do wavefunctions work, and what is the physical reality behind them?
The reification of wavefunctions has apparently become an invisible background assumption to a lot of people. But in the Copenhagen interpretation, wavefunctions do not exist, only “observables” exist: the quantities whose behavior the wavefunction helps you to predict.
Examples of observables are: the position of an electron; the rate of change of a field; the spin of a photon. In the Copenhagen interpretation, these are what exists.
Some examples of things which are not observables and which do not exist: An electron wavefunction with a peak here and a peak there; a photon in a superposition of spin states; in fact, any superposition.
Because quantum mechanics does not offer a nonprobabilistic deeper level of description, it is very easy for people to speak and think as if the wavefunctions are the physical realities, but that is not how Copenhagen is supposed to work.
To reiterate: “consciousness collapses the wavefunction” in exactly the same sense that “consciousness updates the prior”. You are free to invent subquantum physical theories in which wavefunctions are real, in an attempt to explain why quantum mechanics works, and maybe in those theories you want to have something “collapsing” wavefunctions, but you probably wouldn’t want that to be “consciousness”.
From the perspective of the Copenhagen interpretation, this is like a debate about whether ‘consciousness updates the prior’, in which ‘the prior’ is treated as a physical entity which exists independently of observers and their ignorance.
In the Copenhagen interpretation—at least as originally intended! - a wavefunction is not a physical state. It is instead like a probability distribution.
From this perspective, the mystery of quantum mechanics is not, why do wavefunctions collapse? It is, why do wavefunctions work, and what is the physical reality behind them?
The reification of wavefunctions has apparently become an invisible background assumption to a lot of people. But in the Copenhagen interpretation, wavefunctions do not exist, only “observables” exist: the quantities whose behavior the wavefunction helps you to predict.
Examples of observables are: the position of an electron; the rate of change of a field; the spin of a photon. In the Copenhagen interpretation, these are what exists.
Some examples of things which are not observables and which do not exist: An electron wavefunction with a peak here and a peak there; a photon in a superposition of spin states; in fact, any superposition.
Because quantum mechanics does not offer a nonprobabilistic deeper level of description, it is very easy for people to speak and think as if the wavefunctions are the physical realities, but that is not how Copenhagen is supposed to work.
To reiterate: “consciousness collapses the wavefunction” in exactly the same sense that “consciousness updates the prior”. You are free to invent subquantum physical theories in which wavefunctions are real, in an attempt to explain why quantum mechanics works, and maybe in those theories you want to have something “collapsing” wavefunctions, but you probably wouldn’t want that to be “consciousness”.