Saturday 7 May 2011

Schrodinger's Fundamentalists

Look, I'm not going to patronise you. Most of you know about Schrodinger's cat. So I'm not going to bother telling you all about it again. If you don't know about the Quantum Tabby, you can sneak off and have a read. We won't judge. Let's face it, Jesus had never heard of America. Anyone can be forgiven innocent ignorance.

But now we're all up to the same level. I'd like to propose a suggestion.
Schrodinger's Cat is not a real cat. It has not ceased to be, nor has it not ceased to be. It is not an ex-cat, nor a cat. It's an imaginary cat. And yet, through a made-up story of a cat, real truth has been derived. The literalness of the cat is not an issue - only the truth of the story.
In fact if a bunch of scientists declared they believed in Schrodinger's Cat as a real feline, you'd have problems with their credulity. You wouldn't necessarily want to buy the patent for a new drug from them. And if somebody claimed they'd actually done the Schrodinger's Cat experiment (and found a practical application) you'd think they were a monster. A story can give truth, without anyone actually half-killing (or half-saving) a cat. And a Fall can be true, without anyone really needing to eat an apple.

OK, thanks for listening. Now, can anyone find me a box and a radioactive source? I fancy a nice Egremont Russet.

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