The Copenhagen Interpretation Of The Double-Slit Experiment Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [1]

Gribbin (1990: 239-41):

Let's get back to the fundamental experiment in quantum physics, the two-holes experiment.  Even within the framework of the conventional Copenhagen interpretation … the interference pattern produced on the screen of that experiment when just one particle travels through the apparatus is explained as interference from two alternative realities, in one of which the particle goes through hole A, in the other of which it goes through hole B.  When we look at the holes, we find the particle only goes through one of them, and there is no interference.  But how does the particle choose which hole to go through?  On the Copenhagen interpretation, it chooses at random in accordance with the quantum probabilities — God does play dice with the universe.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, the interference pattern that gradually builds up on the detector screen, when particles are emitted one at a time, is the statistical distribution of instances, in line with the probabilities of the system potential.  There is no "interference from two alternative realities".

Locating another particle detector at one of the holes changes the quantum system potential, such that the probability of detecting particles at that hole is 1, and the probability of detecting particles at the other hole is 0, and the statistical distribution of instances is in line with this, which is why, in this case, there is no interference pattern on the original detector screen.