b3ta.com board
You are not logged in. Login or Signup
Home » Messageboard » XXX » Message 6562798 (Thread)

# Schrödinger's cat is un-dead

(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:08, archived)
# I have long held this theory.
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:09, archived)
# i gave up after a bit
once i realised it was just bollocks
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:11, archived)
# *bookmarks, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of text*
but WILL read it eventually
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:12, archived)
# It's only the first draft.
But I haven't bothered putting the edited version online anywhere yet.
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:25, archived)
# the flaw in that thoery is that if you leave a cat in a box for long enough without opening it
it will always be dead.
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:12, archived)
# isnt that
there is no alive or dead but ongoing and continous cat alive/dead states at the same moment

or am i drunk
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:13, archived)
# Sort of
It exists in a state of quantum flux, neither one thing nor the other until the box is opened and the act of observing makes the waveforms collapse into one or other of the probabilities.

Schroedinger meant it as a satire on quantum physics but it turned out to be a rather good analogy for it and he went on to become one of the foremost quantum physicists (and won the Nobel Prize while he was at it, but they didn't know until they looked in the envelope).
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:15, archived)
# does that cat know
if its alive or dead. that could be interesting.

mmmm no wonder they get 9 lives guess you gotta work it out
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:18, archived)
# You have to use
quite a stupid cat.
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:27, archived)
# He wasn't going to win it
but by observing it they changed the outcome.
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:21, archived)
# you're right
Schroedinger wanted to say that you can't translate quantum dynamics onto macroscopic objects that easily, because the outcome is almost always complete bollocks.
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:22, archived)
# not after a few days
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:17, archived)
# Did Schrödinger mention Airholes?
Adequate Food... A Litter Tray.. Or was he just a cruel Sod who hated Cats?

(Yep I Know it was a theoretical experiment really...)
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:14, archived)
# as Terry Pratchett wrote:
"Greebo had spent an irritating two minutes in that box. Technically, a cat locked in a box may be alive or it may be dead. You never know until you look. In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious."
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:24, archived)
# You should probably note
that it's not just a cat in a box. There's also a gadget which gives a 50-50 chance of releasing poison to kill the cat within the time of the experiment. That's what makes it an equal chance of alive or dead.
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:41, archived)
# ME KNOWINK THAT!

no, really
(, Wed 22 Nov 2006, 16:56, archived)