From Possibility to Reality: Comparing Paul Werbos’ Time-Symmetric Quantum Theory with the Saddle-Point Interpretation
Sungchul Ji, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Cell Biology
Rutgers University
1. Introduction
One of the oldest mysteries in quantum mechanics is remarkably simple to state.
Before measurement, a quantum system exists as a superposition of many possible outcomes.
After the measurement, only one outcome is observed.
What happened?
For nearly a century, physicists have proposed different answers.
The traditional Copenhagen interpretation [1] simply postulates wavefunction collapse [2].
Roger Penrose [3] argues that collapse is an objective physical process driven by spacetime geometry.
Federico Faggin [4] proposes that consciousness plays the fundamental role.
Recently, Paul Werbos[5] has advanced a very different alternative.
He argues that there is no wavefunction collapse at all.
My own recent work on Saddle-Point Interpretation (SPI) [6] reaches a different conclusion.
Interestingly, the last two approaches agree on many important points while disagreeing on one fundamental issue.
2. Werbos: The Universe Is Time-Symmetric
Werbos builds upon the Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory [7] and the Transactional [8] Interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Instead of imagining a particle traveling only from the past toward the future, his model allows information to propagate in both temporal directions.
Offer waves travel forward in time.
Confirmation waves travel backward in time.
A successful transaction satisfies the boundary conditions imposed by both the past and the future.
The observed event is therefore not produced by a mysterious collapse.
It is simply the unique spacetime solution satisfying all constraints.
Measurement becomes a boundary-value problem rather than an instantaneous physical jump.
3. The Importance of Condensed Matter
One of Werbos’ most interesting contributions is his insistence that quantum measurements cannot be understood without realistic condensed-matter physics.
Actual crystal polarizers possess:
finite thickness,
dielectric tensors,
internal lattice structure,
phase delays.
These physical properties influence the measurement itself.
In Werbos’ view, idealized mathematical polarizers are insufficient.
Real quantum measurements require real condensed matter.
This is an important insight that moves beyond abstract Hilbert-space mathematics.
4. The Saddle-Point Interpretation
The Saddle-Point Interpretation (SPI) [6] begins from a different observation.
Throughout physics, chemistry, and biology, transitions occur through saddle points.
Chemical reactions.
Enzyme catalysis.
Protein folding.
Phase transitions.
Each involves a mixed-curvature free-energy surface [11].
SPI proposes that quantum measurement follows the same general principle.
A quantum superposition evolves until fast microscopic fluctuations become coupled to slower environmental degrees of freedom.
At the saddle point,
energy is dissipated,
information is encoded,
and one possibility becomes physically stabilized.
The transition is not mysterious. It is thermodynamic.
5. Two Different Questions
At first glance, Werbos [5] and SPI [6] appear incompatible.
Closer examination suggests otherwise.
The two theories are actually trying to answer different questions.
Werbos asks:
How is a quantum outcome selected?
SPI asks:
How does a selected outcome become a stable physical reality?
Selection and stabilization are not necessarily identical processes.
6. A Triadic View of Quantum Measurement
This distinction suggests a deeper possibility.
Traditional quantum mechanics often treats measurement as a dyadic process.
Possibility
↓
Actuality
SPI proposes that something essential is missing.
Between possibility and actuality lies an indispensable mediating process.
Quantum possibilities
↓
Thermodynamic organization
(energy dissipation + information encoding)
↓
Observed actuality
This is not simply a sequence of events.
It represents an Irreducible Triadic Relation (ITR) [12].
The middle stage cannot be eliminated without losing the physical mechanism of actualization.
7. The Role of Dissipation
This may be the deepest difference between Werbos’ theory and SPI.
Werbos certainly recognizes that real measuring devices are dissipative condensed-matter systems.
However, in his framework, dissipation accompanies measurement.
It is not what fundamentally explains why one possibility becomes actual.
SPI assigns dissipation a different role.
Energy dissipation is not merely present.
It is constitutive.
The irreversible transfer of free energy into slower environmental modes is precisely what stabilizes one outcome and records information about it.
In other words,
Werbos explains the consistency of quantum events.
SPI explains their thermodynamic realization.
8. Consciousness
This distinction also influences the study of consciousness.
Werbos’ model requires no special role for consciousness.
Measurement is determined by the time-symmetric physics of the universe.
Conscious observers simply witness the outcome.
SPI likewise rejects observer-induced collapse.
However, because SPI emphasizes multiscale organization [13], it naturally connects with biological systems.
Brains consist of enormous networks of dissipative structures operating across many time scales.
The same saddle-point geometry governing enzyme catalysis and molecular organization may also govern transitions occurring within neural systems.
Consciousness therefore becomes linked not to observation itself but to organized thermodynamic processes.
9. Toward a Possible Synthesis
The two theories (Werbos and SPI) need not be viewed as mutually exclusive.
A possible synthesis might proceed in stages.
Time-symmetric quantum interactions determine the physically admissible possibilities.
Saddle-point dynamics then convert one of those possibilities into a thermodynamically stabilized event.
In this view:
Werbos explains the transactional negotiation.
SPI explains the physical actualization.
The two theories would therefore address complementary aspects of the same phenomenon.
10. A Third Perspective: Ruth Kastner’s Relativistic Transactional Interpretation
The comparison between Paul Werbos’ theory and the Saddle-Point Interpretation becomes even more illuminating when viewed alongside Ruth Kastner’s Relativistic Transactional Interpretation (RTI) [14].
Like Werbos, RTI descends from the original Transactional Interpretation proposed by John Cramer [15] . Both theories describe quantum events as arising through exchanges between retarded (forward-in-time) and advanced (backward-in-time) waves. In both cases, the observer plays no privileged role, and quantum events are understood as physical processes rather than mysterious acts of observation.
Kastner’s important contribution is to emphasize actualization. Among the many possible transactions, one becomes physically real. This transition introduces a kind of time asymmetry: before actualization there are many possible transactions; afterward there is one realized event.
Werbos also rejects observer-induced collapse, but he interprets measurement somewhat differently. In his recent work, the measurement outcome is determined by a global time-symmetric boundary-value solution involving realistic condensed-matter systems such as crystal polarizers. The observed event is therefore the unique history satisfying the complete spacetime constraints. In this sense, the apparent collapse is replaced by consistency of the entire physical solution.
The Saddle-Point Interpretation asks a different question. Rather than focusing primarily on how a transaction is selected, SPI asks how a selected transaction becomes an irreversible physical event.
Its answer is thermodynamic.
At a mixed-curvature saddle point, fast quantum fluctuations become coupled to slower environmental degrees of freedom. Free energy is dissipated into the surrounding environment while information about the event is encoded in stable physical structures. The observed outcome is therefore not merely selected—it is thermodynamically stabilized.
From the perspective of the Irreducible Triadic Relation (ITR), this distinction becomes especially significant.
RTI may be summarized schematically as
Quantum possibilities → Actualized transaction. (6/29/2026/1)
Werbos’ approach may be summarized as
Quantum possibilities → Time-symmetric boundary-value solution. (6/29/2026/2)
SPI proposes an additional irreducible stage:
Quantum possibilities → Thermodynamic organization → Observed actuality. (6/29/2026/3)
Here “thermodynamic organization” refers to the coupled processes of free-energy dissipation and information encoding that accompany stabilization.
This does not imply that RTI or Werbos ignore dissipation. Real measuring devices are, of course, dissipative physical systems. Rather, the difference concerns the explanatory role assigned to dissipation.
In RTI and Werbos’ framework, dissipation accompanies the measurement process.
In SPI, dissipation constitutes the physical mechanism through which one quantum possibility becomes a stable classical reality.
This distinction suggests that the three approaches may not be mutually exclusive.
“RTI describes the transactional structure of quantum possibilities.” (6/29/2026/4)
“Werbos develops a realistic time-symmetric description of measurement (6/29/2026/5)
based on condensed-matter physics and spacetime boundary conditions.”
“SPI proposes the thermodynamic mechanism by which one of those (6/29/2026/6)
admissible possibilities becomes an irreversible physical event.”
If this interpretation proves fruitful, the three approaches may eventually be viewed not as competing theories but as complementary descriptions of different stages in the transition from quantum possibility to classical actuality.
11. A Broader Lesson
This comparison illustrates a recurring theme throughout science.
Many apparent oppositions conceal an overlooked middle term.
Wave and particle.
Mind and brain.
Potentiality and actuality.
Quantum possibility and classical reality.
The Saddle-Point Interpretation suggests that actualization is itself a genuine physical process requiring organization, energy flow, and information recording.
Reality therefore may not be fundamentally dyadic.
It may be irreducibly triadic.
12. Conclusion
The debate over wavefunction collapse is far from settled.
Paul Werbos has developed an elegant time-symmetric framework that eliminates collapse as a fundamental event.
The Saddle-Point Interpretation proposes instead that what appears as collapse reflects an irreversible thermodynamic transition occurring on mixed-curvature free-energy landscapes.
Whether future experiments ultimately favor one view, the other, or a synthesis of both remains an open question.
Nevertheless, both approaches move beyond the traditional Copenhagen interpretation.
Both seek to replace mystery with mechanism.
The remaining question is profound.
Is quantum measurement simply the selection of one consistent history?
Or is it the irreversible birth of physical reality through thermodynamic organization?
The answer may determine not only our understanding of quantum mechanics but also the physical foundations of consciousness itself.
References:
[1] Copenhagen interpretation. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Copenhagen_interpretation
[2] Wave function collapse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function_collapse
[3] Penrose, R. (2020). Nobel Lecture: Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize in Physics 2020
[4] Federico Faggin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Faggin
[5] Werbos, P. (2025). Model of Quantum Measurement Fits Three Solid Sets of Experiments Which Copenhagen Does Not Fit. Zenodo.|
[6] Ji, S. (2026). Saddle-Point Interpretation and Thermodynamic Quantum Field Theory: Toward a Geometry of Dissipative Quantum Transitions
https://622622.substack.com/p/saddle-point-interpretation-and-thermodynamic
[7] Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler%E2%80%93Feynman_absorber_theory
[8] Transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transactional_interpretation
[9] Hilbert space. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert_space
[10] Saddle-Point Interpretation and Thermodynamic Quantum Field Theory: Toward a Geometry of Dissipative Quantum Transitions
https://622622.substack.com/p/saddle-point-interpretation-and-thermodynamic
[11] Potential energy surface. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_energy_surface
[12] Ji, S. (2018). The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter. World Scientific Publishing, New Jersey. Pp. 377-373. ITR
[13] Ji, S. (2025). Discovery of Conscions. https://622622.substack.com/p/discovery-of-conscions
[14] Kastner, R. (2021).The Relativistic Transactional Interpretation and The Quantum Direct-Action Theory https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/18564/
[15] Crame, John. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Cramer