So, I've been thinking about Schroedinger and his cat a little bit over the past few days. I don't know why really. I'm going to explore it here.
Schroedinger's cat is a Thought Experiment to do with Quantum Physics. Heavy stuff, I know. Basically, Schroedinger proposes you put a cat in a box with a vial of poison and a Geiger counter. If the Geiger counter detects radiation, the poison vial breaks and kills the cat. No radiation, poison intact, cat stays alive. The point being, that until an observation is made one way or the other this closed system exists in both states at once; the poison is both intact and broken, cat both alive and dead.
I think I started thinking about this when I chucked a t-shirt on the other morning to head into the lab. I suddenly realised, even though I've had this shirt for ages, I never noticed that it is Schroedinger's cat. It's just a cat, but it seems to be created out of negative space - the outlines are white, and kind of dotted-line-ish. The things that would be shading usually are white. It has white pupils. It's a freaky effing cat when you finally pay attention to it. Anyway, the spots on this cat are multicoloured - red, green, yellow, blue. What the hell kind of cat is this? Well, the caption says it all. 'Philosophy Cat.' It's a cat that could be in any number of states at once, existing all at the same time, until someone makes an observation and decides what is going on. Schroedinger's Cat.
Realising this made me feel like a bit of a super nerd. How many people who bought this shirt at a young woman's clothing store would realise the greater implications of it? None of them, probably. I have a t-shirt which is a physics joke. Win.
So then, I started thinking about the concept. I think it's the state my life is in at the moment. I am existing in at least two different states at once and I need to make an observation, or somebody needs to make an observation, for me to collapse into one state or the other.
I am both married and not. I am both confident and a quivering mess. I am both sure of my future and completely unsure where it could turn. I am both lover and fighter. Intellectual and completely stupid. Asleep and awake. Alive and not-alive. Addicted and able to quit anytime.
I'm waiting for someone to make an observation. To see me for what I really am. I wish that person had been my Husband. I tried so hard to make it him. I tried to be the one he wanted to observe. But I'm just not and I've been lying about who I am for 3 years.
Wow. Heavy stuff for a Monday. I warned you. I can't believe this all came out from a t-shirt.
Showing posts with label science in action. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science in action. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2011
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