or it both collapses and doesn't collapse observation just picks the path -you- are in, not the wave

But how does the wave function know you're measuring, as opposed to just hanging around in the vicinity and being all entangled and the like?

It's not the concept of measuring, it's the tools of measuring, like photons.

It's the reason why Schrodinger's Cat is an intentionally nonsensical scenario. Under mainstream understandings of quantum mechanics, the radiation detector is itself a valid "observer" and therefore no cat superposition occurs (at least not within a single universe).

Bad Code: The tiles are generated randomly Good Code: The tiles are generated based on adjacency Vibe Code: The AI did it and we had the intern fix it manually

Neutral: What’s a wave-function?

If I measure it and write it down wrong, is the wavefunction still collapsed

Yes, but you'd transfer to another multiverse according to the many worlds interpretation. Though you wouldn't notice

Well, it won't collapse *much*.

This one had me cackling 😂

The Solipsist’s Counter: The wave function only collapses when I observe it because I am conscious and the rest of you are unthinking p-zombies.

ok, colloquial solipsism and waveform collapse involves travelling back in time Sure, the waveform only collapses when I measure it, but in the scenario where somebody else "measures" it and then tells me, it doesn't collapse until I hear it, which means it has to go back in time and collapse then

I am going to start using the last one.

Neutral: these are three equally controversial interpretations right there (ok, maybe the third is either more or less equal, depending on interpretation).

People who live in Wavefunctions shouldn’t throw Observations.

Does the cat observe whether or not it's dead?

Yes and no.

bad and chaotic work well together. Professors have souls. Undergraduates don't.

According to Max Tegmark, author of "The Mathematical Universe," it is highly likely that the wave function never collapses. What we observe can largely be explained by "decoherence."

That's not just him, Decoherence is a popular interpretation. One of the most modern ones

Yes. but as far as I know, decoherence don't explain everything, and the Copenhagen interpretation is not fully refutated yet.

Surfing the wavefunction blindfolded

Doesn't "observing it" mean shooting a proton at it? I read that once and haven't been able to find information either way on it, but it makes a lot more intuitive sense to me that would change the behavior of a wave rather than conscious awareness changing the behavior of the wave

It’s not really observation but interaction. The moment a wavefunction interacts with something it collapses. Not super accurate but it’s like you’re walking blindly, there’s a certain range of places you can be, but the moment you bump into a wall you know exactly where you are

The way I've understood it is that it's called "observation" because the only way to truly "observe" anything anyways is for it to be interacted with

Yeah, that's my understanding. As the comic says, it's physical measurement that does it. It doesn't matter if there's a mind or machine to know it.

I think the idea is that the particle and your mind are quantumly entangled, therefore one affects the other in ways we can’t measure now. (Layperson’s understanding, could be wrong.)

It more just means that a quantum waveform is inherently impossible to "know" with any certainty until you measure it. There's unfortunately no magical property, it's just an expression of our lack of knowledge

Wavefunction Collapse would be a great band name.

Well it would and it wouldn't. There's no way to be sure until you try.

I can't be the only one who thinks that the loss of unitarity in the presence of an event horizon is basically the same problem as wave function collapse. In fact, I think that must be the MWH position.

This also forms the basis for my system of wizardry. A magic-user is someone who can choose exactly when and where (or if) a waveform is observed. Gandalf's just really good at keeping his eyes shut until the exact right moment.

You've just that Neal Stephenson novel, haven't you? Or did you guys just get the same idea? 😉

I don't know the one you mean, so I guess I haven't, so probably just coincidence.

I guess so. I don't want to reveal the title, to avoid spoilers. So I'll let it be a possible plot and not, simultaneously, in all of his books, the spoiler collapsing only until you read one and observe the story.

I explain it as "it collapses when the universe needs it evaluated". Reality does lazy computation whenever it can.

Since I know almost nothing about quantum mechanics, I can say confidently that this is proof that we live in a simulation.

The hidden truth: it doesn't collapse, we just hone in on one part of it. Wait, that's not hidden, that's the many worlds theory. As you were.

your education level doesn't qualify you from collapsing the wavefunction

Wavefunction prollapse is a bit more weird, I have heard that.

Nice try. We all know it's actually just superdeterminism.

I think the WFC is simply a proof that nobody, not even the universe itself, truly understands statistics. I believe that if we ever do, then we'll be able to harness endless energy by the means of bistromathics.

That or Douglas Adams was unintentionally right.

like a student collapsing under the scrutiny of anyone else

When the electron that's |up>+|down> passes through the detector, the latter's state becomes |detected up>+|detected down>. When you observe it, your state becomes |observed up>+|observed down>. And so on. There is no collapse.

okay then why do we observe either |detected up> or |detected down> if those don't even physically exist how do we see something that doesn't actually happen

I've had to talk several otherwise smart people down from the "quantum observation needs a conscious observer" ledge. Every second, around a quattuordecillion photon wavefunctions collapse inside the Sun, merely by interacting with other particles, unwitnessed by anything conscious.

"It's just measurement" isn't a good response either --> www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/sc...

Fellas, is your wavefunction prone to embarrassing collapse? Ask your doctor if Paulinol is right for you!

I have a quantum penis, in that it both is and isn't erect. [Touches earpiece] ...Alright, no, I've been informed that I'm actually just in my forties...

😂😅🥲

It's wave-function prolapse that keeps me up at night.

Academia: Wave collapse is actually a physicist's metaphor for life, the infinite possibilities they once had, and the paths they could have taken - now all collapsed because they decided to take on a massive student loan to measure some funny waves in a lab.

It is always wrong to say there is a relationship between existence and perception. In any universe. It's wrong to say wave and particle cannot exist simultaneously. It's wrong to say matter and energy are distinct. The only thing that changes is the instrument we use to observe. Nothing else.

Did you succeed in collapsing the moral judgement waveform?

Just a little more penguin dust

Now, given there's good/bad, I feel I'm missing "neutral" as well as "lawful" answers to this to make a full D&D alignment chart 😅

Neutral: those are three equally controversial interpretations Lawful good: stop it right there and now consider the Decoherence interpretation (wavefunction collapse is an illusion) and many worlds one (collapse is just the split to two new multiverse for all things "concious")

Lawful evil: observance leading to wavefunction collapse is strictly forbidden an punishable by death except when done by our dear leader or high-ranking GOP members

cc: @seanmcarroll.bsky.social

Wavefunctions just don't respect and fear me enough to collapse when I look at them 😞

I looked at a wavefunction and I collapsed

Oddly the waveform also collapses for high schoolers. It turns out what is important is thinking you know everything

The fourth panel will turn out to be true with more research.... But only research by PhDs

Title text: "Wavefunction collapse is only one interpretation. Under some interpretations, graduate students also have souls." Alt text: https://explainxkcd.com/3134#Transcript

I expected: "Wavefunction collapse is only one interpretation. Under some interpretations, graduate students also collapse."

Breaking the waves, one dead cat at a time.

refusing to participate in divergent timelines by rolling a d3, reading the matching panel, and ignoring everything else

The universe’s implementation does instantiate-on-load to avoid spending reality on unobserved wavefunctions.