Imagine a cat confined to a box containing a bottle of poisonous gas which will break, killing the cat, if and only if a device connected to it registers the radioactive decay of a radium atom. If the atom, device, and cat together constitute a quantum system, then it seems that this system will exist in a superposition of states unless and until an observer tries to determine which state it is in, by seeing whether or not the cat is dead. But this implies that in the absence of such an observation the cat is neither determinately dead nor determinately alive, which seems absurd.
This thought experiment was conceived by Erwin Schr�dinger (1887-1961), an eminent Austrian physicist who was one of the founders of quantum mechanics. He also had philosophical interests.
MEOW
Dr. Wahoo Capybara
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I'm Dr. Wahoo Capybara and I approve this message - Capybara 2008
I'm Dr. Wahoo Capybara and I approve this message - Capybara 2008
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Imagine a cat confined to a box containing a bottle of poisonous gas which will break, killing the cat, if and only if a device connected to it registers the radioactive decay of a radium atom. If the atom, device, and cat together constitute a quantum system, then it seems that this system will exist in a superposition of states unless and until an observer tries to determine which state it is in, by seeing whether or not the cat is dead. But this implies that in the absence of such an observation the cat is neither determinately dead nor determinately alive, which seems absurd.
This thought experiment was conceived by Erwin Schr�dinger (1887-1961), an eminent Austrian physicist who was one of the founders of quantum mechanics. He also had philosophical interests.
This thought experiment was conceived by Erwin Schr�dinger (1887-1961), an eminent Austrian physicist who was one of the founders of quantum mechanics. He also had philosophical interests.
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I'm Dr. Wahoo Capybara and I approve this message - Capybara 2008
I'm Dr. Wahoo Capybara and I approve this message - Capybara 2008
