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Letter: A quantum view of the past, present and future

Published 3 December 2025

From Sue Tudor, Leeds, UK

With reference to the interesting article by Ciarán Gilligan-Lee on quantum cause and effect, I would point out something that I have often noted, but that is always overlooked (29 November, p 36).

History can be understood in quantum terms. The future is nothing but a series of probabilities, the present is where we “measure” them by experiencing them, the past is things that have already been measured. No observer is necessary to make these “measurements” – they would happen even if no life had ever existed. Each present of each individual entity exists independently and relative to all the others (in its own causal bubble), but all are consistent and fit into one coherent whole. And what drives the course of history except cause and effect?

Reality as we experience it, and the reality of the quantum world, are often typified as different. In fact, we have a parallel classical world and quantum reality always around us and observable at every moment of our lives.

Issue no. 3572 published 6 December 2025

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