Brain Food #680

Opening the box

Thoughts of the day

Today is the anniversary of Schrödinger’s cat, the famous thought experiment that demonstrates the problem behind quantum mechanics.

Simply put, if a cat is placed in a box in which it has a 50% chance of being poisoned to death, then the cat is both dead or alive until we open the box to take a look inside.

A video can explain much more than I ever can in a post:

What is interesting about Schrödinger’s cat beyond the realm of physics, is how it demonstrates the power of contradiction, and how two opposing ideas, or entities, can simultaneously exist in theory, until they are applied in observation. We can live without knowing, or open the box. And, the reality we are experiencing is still the one that counts, until proven otherwise.

“The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one.”

― Erwin Schrödinger

---

Thank you for reading today’s Brain Food. Brain Food is a short daily newsletter that aims to make you think every day, without taking up too much of your time. If you know someone who would like it, why not forward it to them? Brain Food is, after all, alive thanks to you, its readers.