274: Schrödinger's Cat: Reloaded
| Schrödinger's Cat: Reloaded |
 Made by: Quaternion |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
Schrödinger's Cat is a famous thought experiment in which there is a cat in a box with a flask of poison which becomes shattered if an internal monitor detects the decay of a single atom. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics seems to imply that, given time, the cat is both alive and dead at the same time. Any event of this type is known as a quantum superposition, which is believed to collapse into a single reality upon observation. While Schrödinger intended to use the experiment to highlight the absurdity of this view, it is still referenced even among physicists who hold to other interpretations that include the dead-and-alive-cat scenario.
Connections to the original comic can be observed: a cat, a box (the TV, the house), a radiation source... one could even say Garfield has been "poisoned" against watching something worthwhile on television.
This edit gives us a looped animation between two frames, one being the original strip, and the other, in which Garfield, his thought balloons, and the remote have been removed. This could signify existence/non-existence, or perhaps changed the channel/left the armchair.
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
I'd like to post another take on the Schrödinger's Garfield theme.
Alternatively, it could be interpreted as: Garfield - max(0, (-1)^t * Garfield) (assuming t is discrete, of course)
Original: 1997-09-08.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
TV: Welcome to "Quantum Physics And You".
{The world bifurcates: one reality shows an empty armchair. The other reality shows:}
SFX: click click click
Garfield: Whoa! Look out!
Garfield: Whew! I almost saw something worthwhile.
