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# Physics PhD
(failed) - so no guarantee of accuracy
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:17, archived)
# I take my hat off to you, sir
if i had one...
(ClockworkDespot, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:18, archived)
# you won't know
until you look

/hat
/coat
/pteradactyl
(Missing Links, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:19, archived)
# exactly
best explanation ever
edit:oops, credit to ClockworkDespot as well www.b3ta.com/board/3351596
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:22, archived)
# the cat
might be dead

how is that 'both dead and alive'?
(bub, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:30, archived)
# It's the Copenhagen interpretation
i.e. until a radioactive particle has been observed by someone it has both decayed and not decayed with certain probabilities. What Schrodinger did was say, "What if a decaying particle were set up to kill a cat?" Then the cat is both dead and alive.
(I helped save b3ta! Bagpuss, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:34, archived)
# hmpf .. word game?
-what state is the cat in?
i dont know

-what state is the cat in?
i dunno

-what state is the cat in!?
umm.. indeterminate state?
(bub, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:52, archived)
# the cat is not both dead and alive
it exists in an indeterminate state, which will not become determined until observed by a conscious mind (this of course makes the assumption that cats are not conscious), hence the collapse of the wave functions into a definate state (ie. the cat is really in an indeterminate state, it's not just that the observer doesn't know)

edit:plus what bagpuss said ^^^ (apart from the both dead and alive bit at the end :)
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:36, archived)
# the only logical conclusion i have made
is that Schrodinger really didnt like cats
(ClockworkDespot, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:40, archived)
# arf
he certainly didn't think they were conscious, which is a bit debatable
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:42, archived)
# well, *ahem*
for Wittgenstein, conciousness is impossible without language

for for Descartes "an animal screaming in pain is like a chiming clock"

that Descartes didnt like any bloody animal it seems. twat.
(ClockworkDespot, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:44, archived)
# well said
although they seemed to miss the fact that language is merely a tool to convey the approximate state of one or more concepts from one mind to another, and I think that animals do that perfectly well (and between their own species, probably even better). I think that the whole non-conscious animal thing is a throwback to a Christian world-view. And don't get me started on the fact that when Descarte said "I think therefore I am" he pre-supposed the existence of an "I".
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:49, archived)
# I agree
in Descates' Meditations he explains in the first chapter how he must doubt everything. then goes on this massive leap of faith that he exists because he doubts and doubt is a type of thinking. seems contradictory, in my opinion.

although, his ontological argument in the next chapter is second to none (as st anselm makes very little logical sense)

and im guessing this post is going to be particularly squashed up.
(ClockworkDespot, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:55, archived)
# cheers!


/recognition
(ClockworkDespot, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:38, archived)
# I love Berkeley
I guess he was the last of the theologian-scientists (edit: or rather, theologian-scientist-philosophers)
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:43, archived)
# If anything
that pic should win (or at least come as the 4th winner) for inspiring such interlectualness.ness.
(ClockworkDespot, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:49, archived)
# absolutely
reminds me, Woo to the pic!
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 20:51, archived)
# by the way
"language is merely a tool to convey the approximate state of one or more concepts from one mind to another,"

who said that? t'is good!
(ClockworkDespot, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 21:01, archived)
# hmpf
not just conveyance, but organisation too.
(bub, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 21:07, archived)
# me!
(I must give credit to alcohol as well though :)
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 21:10, archived)
# ah, alcohol
It has all the answers!

(exept how to get home)
(ClockworkDespot, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 21:13, archived)
# arf!
(I helped save b3ta! Cog, Sat 19 Jun 2004, 21:15, archived)