Part 2/9:
A defining concern in quantum mechanics, as articulated by Penrose, is the so-called "collapse of the wave function." According to the Schrödinger equation, quantum states evolve in a deterministic manner until a measurement is made, at which point they undergo a collapse into one of the possible states. This contradiction has puzzled physicists for decades. Penrose emphasizes that the resolution to this problem is not simply a matter of accounting for complex systems and their behavior under measurement; rather, the collapse is a fundamental process that needs to be integrated into our understanding of quantum mechanics.