Undergrad Spot Electron: Unveiling the Wave-Function Collapse

[AuntyMatter]

You have probably heard this a thousand times before, but here goes...

We have an electron gun pointing at a double slit setup.
We switch it on and emit a single electron.
The electron approaches the double slit.
At each instant that electron has a definite position.
We do not consciously know where the electron is, so we do not know which slit it will pass through.
The Universe knows where the electron is because the electron contributes to the gravitational field.
We are part of the Universe, so we intrinsically know where it is at any instant.
Is the 'collapse of the wave-function' the transition from intrinsic to conscious knowledge ?

 

[PeterDonis]

At each instant that electron has a definite position.

No, it doesn't.

The Universe knows where the electron is because the electron contributes to the gravitational field.

We don't have a theory of quantum gravity, so we don't know how gravity works together with quantum mechanics. But it is perfectly possible that the gravitational field can be in a quantum superposition just like the electron, so there is no definite value of the gravitational field just as there is no definite value for the position of the electron.

We are part of the Universe, so we intrinsically know where it is at any instant.
Is the 'collapse of the wave-function' the transition from intrinsic to conscious knowledge ?

This is personal speculation and is out of bounds here.