Schrödinger's cat

[jscheuer1]

There have been a number of questions lately in this lounge that are really open ended philosophical questions, like Schrödinger's cat. If we put Schrödinger's cat in the Chinese room, would it be a computer?

Upon first hearing about Schrödinger's cat, many people get concerned for the poor animal. If you are, and would like to do something about it, please click on one of the Donate buttons below:

[djr33]

I love this concept. Not sure what else to comment on, but.... glad you brought it up.

[Twey]

http://www.cats.org.uk/

[Trinithis]

What about a Schrödinger's dog experiment? Cats are too cool. Let's face it: Dogs can't purr.

[djr33]

But you can hear the dog barking. That takes away the mystery. If there is a radioactive isotope.... "Darn it, Jimmy-- the dog's barking again. Start over."

[Twey]

Heck yes. Cats all the way!

[boogyman]

i hate to state the obvious but wtfudgesicle?

[djr33]

If there is a cat in a box, with a decaying isotope, at the isotope's half life, is the cat dead or alive, if you don't look inside the box?

It's something you have to think about for a while to really understand.

It's the metaphor created by Shrödinger when researching electrons as waves and particles. He used that to explain that they aren't particles OR waves, and not neither-- they are both. And the cat is dead and alive.

If you don't get it, don't worry. But if you're interested, it's a cool discussion.

I did a report on this a few years ago in school. Fun times.

[boogyman]

yes I got the decay portion.
I am wondering the purpose? after looking at John's original post, its probably to counteract the 2/3 recent philisophical posts.

the other thing was how is a cat half dead half alive?
which brings up the question of how to define life, which goes back to one of the topics this was spawned upon.

[djr33]

It's not half dead half alive. It's alive and it's dead.
You'll have to research to understand it. Hard to put into words. Something you just comprehend after a while-- you feel its meaning, sorta.

It's a philosophical puzzle, so don't think too hard about the bounds of life for the moment.


Basically, it's a way of countering mutual exclusivity, to represent the electron's state.