The measurement problem in physics is that while Schrödinger’s equation determines how quantum waves evolve, how they collapse when measured is indeterminate, because how many quantum states instantly become one physical state is unknown. This problem was raised early last century and no progress has been made on the matter since:
“The history of the quantum measurement paradox is fascinating. There is still no general agreement on the matter even after eighty years of heated debate.” (Laughlin, 2005), p49.
Essentially, we know how quantum waves spread but not how they collapse, and but for this problem they could be real, as after all:
“… why not simply accept the reality of the wave function? (Zeh, 2004), p8.
This didn’t happen because quantum theory:
“… paints a picture of the world that is less objectively real than we usually believe it to be.” (Walker, 2000), p72.
In other words, quantum theory describes waves that collapse and restart in a way that is physically impossible, so if they are real, the jump of quantum collapse must be too:
“… if we are to take y [the quantum field] as providing a picture of reality, then we must take these jumps as physically real occurrences too…” (Penrose, 1994), p331.
Schrödinger tried to explain the quantum field physically but failed, as did all who came after him, because its waves superpose in physically impossible ways, entangle to ignore the speed of light limit, and instantly collapse to a point when observed. The problem is:
“How can something real disappear instantaneously?” (Barbour, 1999), p200.
When Pauli and Born defined the quantum field as the probability of a physical event, physics inevitably became about what wasn’t physical, so:
“For the first time in physics, we have an equation that allows us to describe the behavior of objects in the universe with astounding accuracy, but for which one of the mathematical objects of the theory, the quantum field y, apparently does not correspond to any known physical quantity.” (Oerter, 2006), p89.
The measurement problem, that quantum waves can’t be observed, then produces the paradox that what is unreal causes what is real, but as one physicist notes:
“Can something that affects real events … itself be unreal?” (Zeh, 2004), p4.
Quantum states predict physical states, and so produce them, but as Penrose says:
“How, indeed, can real objects be constituted from unreal components?” (Penrose, 1994), p313.
The quantum paradox is that if quantum unreality causes physical reality, what doesn’t exist causes what does, which is illogical. Something can’t come from nothing, but every physicist that uses a quantum equation assumes that it can. Physics, the bastion of science, is then based on the premise that unreal causes can have real effects.
For over a century, physics has faced this paradox like a deer in headlights, blinded by the brilliance of quantum theory but stuck in the orthodox position of physicalism. But as it stands there, its foundations are sinking in the shifting sands of paradox, so it’s time to move on, even if those wedded to the past don’t want to.
To do this, it must avoid paradoxes that are based on false assumptions. For example, the object in Figure 3.26 seems to have two square and three round prongs, as at the top it has two square prongs, but at the bottom it has three round ones. This produces the paradox of an object with two and three prongs, which is impossible! The answer to this paradox isn’t to accept some sort of square-round duality, but to reject the false assumption that a line can bound both a square prong and a round prong simultaneously. When this false assumption is exposed, there is no paradox because the object is impossible in reality.
Likewise, the quantum paradox that the unreal causes the real makes the false assumption that we see reality as it is. The solution then isn’t to institutionalize illogic by making quantum waves imaginary except for our equations, but to expose the fallacy entirely. If the assumption that particles explain how light behaves is rejected, then it is impossible for real matter to cause the effects of light. Quantum waves could then be the real cause both of light and matter, so there is no quantum paradox.
Quantum realism, that quantum events cause physical events, avoids the paradoxes of physicalism by making our reality a generated series of observation events, not a substance that self-exists. It works because processing waves can spread, superpose, collapse, and restart on a network, just as quantum theory describes. Quantum events are then unobservable because they create observation, which no physical theory can explain, but rejecting physicalism requires physics to change its foundations.