Nano builders rejoice: for the first time, scientists have watched crystals grow atom by atom, offering incredible control over their microscopic structure. The technique could lead to customisable crystals that would find uses in diverse fields, from water purifiers to cloaking technologies.

“For the first time, we can actually image the motion of individual atoms, and observe the atom-by-atom assembly of crystals,” says Nicolas Barry at the University of Warwick, UK. (1)

Great! someone might say…

But wait a minute!
Something does not add up.

How do the crystals “know” from the beginning the ultimately best way to reconfigure their structure so as to achieve the one with the smallest energy? Because they surely cannot reshuffle their whole structure until they find the best possible.

Read Penrose.
The fallen emperor is still down.
Long live the empreror!

Inside a crystal, something important happens.
Every moment, wavefunctions collapse.
Every moment, “something” makes them collapse.

Inside your head, a new battle is won.
Every single second, wavefunctions collapse.
Every single second, SOMEONE makes them collapse…

If matter can think of the best FINAL state,
then maybe it is not “matter” at all…

The emperor is not lost (?) after all…