From Britt Chappell, Lebanon, Tennessee, US
Regarding the debate on wave function collapse and human consciousness, Andrew Smyth suggests a universe where reality depends on human awareness, while Nick Canning’s correction – declaring the mechanism “entirely mechanical” – reduces quantum physics to a 19th-century grandfather clock (Letters, 30 May).
Both are incorrect. Apparent collapse is caused by the omnipresent interaction of quantum fields, a universal process independent of human observation or mechanical gears. “Observation” is simply a specific physical interaction where fields collide. There are no gears turning and no minds wishing; there are only field couplings, entanglement and decoherence.
