Nice essay; most people today really don't understand that Schrodinger's thought experiment was to poke fun at the Copenhagen interpretation. Apparently he and Einstein thought a lot about how to evoke quantum effects into the "macro" world to show the absurdity of the wave function collapse at the heart of the Copenhagen interpretation.
Unfortunately for them the Copenhagen interpretation some empirical support, so Schrodinger's cat "lives" on (or doesn't) as an unwilling participant in a joke that failed...😂
I know! 😂 It must have been glorious to have been a physicist then…so many breakthroughs, so much back and forth and friendly (and probably some unfriendly) rivalry! And over it all Einstein kind of glowered…
Most people don’t realize how perturbed Einstein was by the Copenhagen interpretation. As you pointed out, he viewed it as essentially “action at a distance” and his famous quote about God not playing dice was specifically about the Copenhagen interpretation. He was particularly bothered by the prediction of quantum entanglement. He even proposed an actual experiment he thought would disprove it; but when we had the technology to do that experiment (after Einstein’s death) it instead upheld the interpretation (and quantum entanglement).
Quantum theory is as much fun for the people who built it as for the theory itself!😁
"We’re talking 75 years before the Marvel Universe really took off, so there was nothing mainstream about multiverses or multiple dimensions...."
Marvel didn't start publishing under that name until 1962 (it was Atlas when it started, and later changed to Timely before becoming Marvel) but the interconnected universe of characters was clearly something Stan Lee intended from the start. Michael Moorcock managed to do the same thing with a lot of his prose fiction.
I wove this entire concept into my second novel Integration which also stars Puddin' my real cat. In fact, Chapter 12 is titled Schrödinger's Cat
Woudenberg's Cat, IMO
Fun read. In your mind, is the observer outside of the system or inside the system?
Well, that's a good question. I think the main idea is that you are, in fact, always part of the system you create.
So you are an observer and a participant? Both and…
Yes. I don't see how it can be any other way.
It seems you are a quantum thinker…
So what you're saying Schrödinger's Cat is simultaneously understood and misunderstood?
If only there was some way to conveniently illustrate such a concept!
Let's use a doll to illustrate the point. We can call this thought experiment "Nest's Doll."
Nice essay; most people today really don't understand that Schrodinger's thought experiment was to poke fun at the Copenhagen interpretation. Apparently he and Einstein thought a lot about how to evoke quantum effects into the "macro" world to show the absurdity of the wave function collapse at the heart of the Copenhagen interpretation.
Unfortunately for them the Copenhagen interpretation some empirical support, so Schrodinger's cat "lives" on (or doesn't) as an unwilling participant in a joke that failed...😂
I love that the whole thing is a joke, like designed to troll Bohr!
I know! 😂 It must have been glorious to have been a physicist then…so many breakthroughs, so much back and forth and friendly (and probably some unfriendly) rivalry! And over it all Einstein kind of glowered…
Most people don’t realize how perturbed Einstein was by the Copenhagen interpretation. As you pointed out, he viewed it as essentially “action at a distance” and his famous quote about God not playing dice was specifically about the Copenhagen interpretation. He was particularly bothered by the prediction of quantum entanglement. He even proposed an actual experiment he thought would disprove it; but when we had the technology to do that experiment (after Einstein’s death) it instead upheld the interpretation (and quantum entanglement).
Quantum theory is as much fun for the people who built it as for the theory itself!😁
Have I shared this one w/you yet?
https://goatfury.substack.com/p/humility-with-heisenberg
Figure you already know the story, but it's really fun to remember/consider in light of all this.
I just read it and commented; good one!
I wish I knew more about Quantum physics; it's so fascinating!
There's so much to learn! I'm here for it, though. Let's keep talking about how cool this stuff is to think about.
Excellent explanation of the Schrodinger's cat thought experiment.
Thanks, Mir! I'm enjoying seeing more layers to things. Glad you're on the same journey.
I, too, have always found the Schrödinger's cat experiment to be absurd, and have at times wondered if he was parodying the scientists of his day.
This was some expert level trolling.
"We’re talking 75 years before the Marvel Universe really took off, so there was nothing mainstream about multiverses or multiple dimensions...."
Marvel didn't start publishing under that name until 1962 (it was Atlas when it started, and later changed to Timely before becoming Marvel) but the interconnected universe of characters was clearly something Stan Lee intended from the start. Michael Moorcock managed to do the same thing with a lot of his prose fiction.
Oh yes, I was a huge fan of the universe Stan Lee helped to create!
That said, there was nothing mainstream about this universe until about 2010, when the nerds finally took over Hollywood.