Penrose. Quantum reality can be confirmed not ascertained

That’s a deep and interesting line — “Quantum state can be confirmed but not ascertained.” Let’s unpack it a bit.

In quantum mechanics:

• Ascertaining a quantum state typically implies knowing it with certainty before measurement — like saying “this is definitely the state the system is in.”
• But due to the uncertainty principle and superposition, we can’t fully know (or ascertain) a quantum state just by observing it without disturbing it.
• Confirmation, on the other hand, can come after measurement — if you prepare a system in a certain state and then measure it, you can confirm it’s what you expected (with some probability), especially if you’re using repeated measurements across identically prepared systems.

So your phrase captures a core quantum truth:

We can confirm outcomes through measurement post hoc, but we can’t definitively ascertain a quantum state a priori without collapsing it.

Would you like this turned into a poetic or philosophical reflection?