In standard quantum mechanics, measurement is the most conceptually fraught moment. Prior to observation, a system is described by a wavefunction — a superposition of possibilities. Upon measurement, this wavefunction is said to “collapse,” leaving a definite outcome. But what collapses, and why? Is this a physical process? A mental act? An epistemic update?
These questions arise because we continue to model the system as a thing having properties, and measurement as the uncovering of those properties. From a relational perspective, this framing is already mistaken. Measurement is not a discovery but an intervention — a cut through a field of potential that brings about a local resolution of coherence.
1. The Myth of Collapse
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The idea of wavefunction collapse implies that an underlying reality suddenly snaps into a definite state when observed,
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But the wavefunction is not a physical object — it is a relational map of potential actualisations under constraint,
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What “collapses” is not a thing, but a zone of affordance, made punctual by the interaction of measuring apparatus and system.
2. Measurement as Relational Resolution
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Every measuring device is itself a set of constraints: it limits what configurations are possible,
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When a system enters into relation with such constraints, it does not reveal a pre-existing value; it resolves into one of the coherent configurations allowed by the joint system,
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Measurement is thus not passive observation but active co-constitution.
3. The Cut: From Potential to Particular
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The quantum system is a structured potential — a field of superposed affordances,
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Measurement is the cut that localises coherence within that field: it selects one possibility from among many,
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This cut is not temporal — it is perspectival: an orienting of the field that defines a particular actualisation.
4. No Hidden Variables, No Observer Magic
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The relational view sidesteps the debate between hidden variable theories (like Bohmian mechanics) and observer-centric accounts (like some Copenhagen interpretations),
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There are no “hidden” properties waiting to be revealed, and no privileged observer who causes reality,
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Instead, there is only the system of constraints, and the patterned resolution of that system under conditions of interaction.
5. Meaning Without Substance
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What is measured is not the “value” of a particle, but a punctualisation of meaning: a definite outcome selected from a structured potential,
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Meaning arises with the cut — not before it,
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A measurement, then, is a local act of worldmaking: a construal that transforms potential into particularity through relation.
Closing
Quantum measurement is not collapse. It is a reconfiguration of systemic coherence under constraint — a perspectival selection that cuts across the structured potential of a field. What results is not the revelation of a hidden reality, but the emergence of a local actuality: a punctual coherence in a relational system.
In the next post, we will address entanglement — not as spooky action at a distance, but as nonseparability: a systemic coherence that defies decomposition into parts.
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