Decoherence Quotes

“Decoherence is what destroys the possibility of observing macroscopic superpositions – including Schrödinger’s live/dead cat. And this has nothing to do with observation in the normal sense: we don’t need a conscious mind to ‘look’ in order to ‘collapse the wavefunction’. All we need is for the environment to disperse the quantum coherence. This happens with extraordinary efficiency – it’s probably the most efficient process known to science. And it is very clear why size matters here: there is simply more interaction with the environment, and therefore faster decoherence, for larger objects.”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird

“Here is the answer to Einstein’s question about the moon. Yes, it is there when no one observes it – because the environment is already, and without cease, ‘measuring’ it. All of the photons of sunlight that bounce off the moon are agents of decoherence, and more than adequate to fix its position in space and give it a sharp outline. The universe is always looking.”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird