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Letter: Quantum catch

Published 27 November 2013

From A

Geoff Stanley writes in his letter that “superposition of quantum states is only determined by observation… (and this may be the) ultimate example of top-down causation” (12 October, p 31). This is offered as an example of the macroscopic world impinging on the microscopic.

This would be true only if the “decision” to observe is itself not produced by a prior combination of microscopic states. I don’t think our knowledge of consciousness – as it stands today – can shed any light on this.
Chandigarh, India

. K. Vijayakumar

Issue no. 2945 published 30 November 2013

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