Schrodinger's Cat

I have been thinking about this and I think the solution is that the cat is dead and alive.When you are imagining the situation in your head you will be like I can imagine the cat dead and I can imagine it alive but not both but you are observing the cat in your head which is the equivalent of opening the box.Observation affects Quantum Mechanics and thus conceptually we can't really understand it as conscious beings as whenever we imagine the situation we imagining a different situation in our heads where we are observing something rather than it not being observed.This is of course assuming the cat isn't aware of itself in that case then the cat must be either dead or alive as the observation is changing the situation and we know the cat must be either dead or alive but not which.

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

SirRaza97

Don't think too hard into this. It's a very loose idea of how quantum phenomena works. It's to give you a basic undertsanding.

Reply 2

Dalek1099

Original post by SirRaza97

Don't think too hard into this. It's a very loose idea of how quantum phenomena works. It's to give you a basic undertsanding.

Feynman once said that noone understands Quantum Mechanics, we can do the Maths of it but not really understand how these things can be and I'm thinking from my logic that it is actually impossible to understand Quantum Mechanics.

Reply 3

outgoingpopcorn

I've only ever heard of this from the Big Bang Theory but it never made sense to me how the cat can be alive and dead at the same time, can't it only be either dead or alive at any given time and not both?

Reply 4

username1738583

like it's just a cat...

Reply 5

Dalek1099

Original post by niv1234

Well in the original scenario the cat is not intelligent so its not aware of itself so it doesn't observe whether its alive or dead and the person outside the box hasn't opened the box.Therefore, there is no need for the cat to be dead or alive and it can be both.

My explanation in the OP also explains why I think we can't actually visualise the cat being both dead and alive and make sense of it.Quantum Mechanics has got to do with reality when there is no observation, we are only aware of reality under observation.

This distinction is almost like a different universe its like saying I know that things should be like this in another universe because in this universe they are like that obviously this is incorrect logic.

Reply 6

outgoingpopcorn

Original post by Dalek1099

That actually made some sense to me, thanks for explaining. I get it now (I think)

Reply 7

Ollie231213

Original post by niv1234

The whole point that Schrodinger was making is that the cat CAN'T be both dead and alive at the same time. A lot of people hold this misconception.

He was trying to say that the idea that particles can be in superimposed states until they are observed is ludicrous because the cat can't be in both a state of being alive and dead at the same time.

Reply 8

thecatwithnohat

wtf and here I was thinking we were gossiping about the tsr user

Reply 9

GwynLordOfCinder

The cat is dead because i always slay the pussy :u:

Reply 10

XxKingSniprxX

Original post by Dalek1099

I remember reading a Physics book last year on the train and the quote I remember was from Neil Bohr "If you think you can talk about quantum theory without feeling dizzy, you haven't understood the first thing about it."

Its true :lol:

Btw, how's durham? I remember seeing you :work:

your butt off to get there back in the days. :wink:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

AperfectBalance

the whole Idea of Schrödinger cat is not meant to be a real representation of quantum mechanics just a kinda very simple way of explaining it. But what do I know I am hardly a expert in this.

Reply 12

math42

Well for all we know the cat could be a dog when we are unable to observe what's going on in the box
Who is to say that there was not a sufficient reorganisation of particles in order to effect such a change, and our witnessing immediately reverses this
Schrodinger's cat-dog

Reply 13

natninja

Original post by Dalek1099

I think the actual quotation is better 'If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't'. There are some things about it we do understand though - we understand that when a system is observed, it's wavefunction (whatever that actually is) decomposes to a single eigenstate. We don't know why that happens. We also know that if you were then to reverse time after taking that measurement, the system would stay in that state rather than reverting back to the superposition of states that previously existed. We have no idea why this happens and this time asymmettry is highly disconcerting to many physicists. One CERN physicist, a Dr. Richard Nickerson, has previously said that he doesn't like quantum mechanics because there is no physical reason for things to happen, but it still manages to be the single most accurate theory in physics.w

Reply 14

outgoingpopcorn

Original post by Ollie231213

Thanks! That makes so much more sense!

Reply 15

Dalek1099

Original post by Ollie231213

This is wrong if this was true it would contradict Quantum Mechanics.Schrodinger was trying to explain why he thought Quantum Mechanics was wrong but experimental evidence has shown Quantum Mechanics to work very well and thus we must conclude the logic of Quantum Mechanics is correct and the cat is thus both dead and alive(assuming it can't observe things).

Reply 16

Dalek1099

Original post by XxKingSniprxX

Btw, how's durham? I remember seeing you :work:

your butt off to get there back in the days. :wink:

Yes the quote is true and its entirely my point I argue its impossible to understand Quantum Mechanics, if it is true consciousness affects reality then we as conscious beings can't understand it.

Reply 17

Dalek1099

Original post by natninja

You know I'm not actually that surprised by this in some way as it was what I predicted from a very mad controversial theory I have that we are actually creating the Universe in the past by our discoveries like what if the Universe started off as consciousness and due to Quantum Mechanics we have the world we have now.What if there were multiple possible ways the Universe could have turned out but consciousness made there only be one, laws could have been different but now since consciousness has observed the universe only one set of laws could occur.

The only way I can kinda of explain this logic is that the Universe conforms to what consciousness expects when observation occurs, if you show someone a dead cat to them it must have been dead when it was in the box before.If we observe the cat it must either be dead or alive it doesn't make sense to us for it to be both and thus only one can happen but when we aren't observing it and have never observed it why can't the cat be both dead and alive?(there is nothing there watching to say its wrong).

It seems to me whilst consciousness can't decide the outcome it forces the Universe to give one outcome in the present and in the past.

Now a lot of people are probably wondering why does consciousness affect things?The answer is probably due to the nature of consciousness which we know very little about the best theories so far(which still aren't that great) is that consciousness is quantum in nature and if this is the case consciousness affecting experiments doesn't start to sound that ridiculous but of course we have little understanding of the possible quantum nature of consciousness.I have another theory as well that consciousness might be like a field of some sort we can generally feel our consciousness around us it certainly feels as if its concentrated inside us but it seems to emanate from our bodies in some way too.Now a quantum field affecting a quantum particle that doesn't sound ridiculous.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 18

Dalek1099

Original post by niv1234

Thanks! That makes so much more sense!

This wrong Schrodinger was trying to prove that Quantum Mechanics can't be correct but it turns out from experiments that Quantum Mechanics is correct.Thus we are forced to conclude the cat is both dead and alive.