MacGougan at Large
Notes of Paradoxes - 6
Schrodinger’s Cat
There’s a thought experiment proposed by a guy named Schrodinger to illustrate a paradox of quantum mechanics. In the experiment, a cat is placed inside a metal box that includes a device that will kill the cat if the box is exposed to radiation. Has the box been exposed to radiation? We won’t know until we open it up and see how the cat is doing. Until the box is opened, the cat is presumed to be both alive and dead.
That’s the paradox part. Being both alive and dead at the same time is considered to be a paradox by people who’ve never had to go to work on a Monday morning.
History remembers Schrodinger for his genius at being able to illustrate a complicated situation so clearly. I believe his real genius was knowing what animal to use.
Schrodinger was no dummy. He knew that, if there was a dog in the box, nobody could stand the thought that it might be dead. He also knew that, if there was a spider in the box, nobody could stand the thought that it might be alive. So he picked a cat, knowing that most people would be sufficiently indifferent to its fate to be able to focus on the larger questions of quantum mechanics.
Personally, I’ve never understood quantum mechanics. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe I like cats more than I let on.
(PS A Happy Fourth of July to All!)
I gave myself a headache trying to wrap my brain around Schrodinger’s cat when I was working it into my book. I ended up working it in and now I have at least the same working level of understanding as you share in the post. For me this means I can work it into a sentence if the perfect opening presents itself which would be spotting a cat in a box.