Schrodinger’s government
The present government is a classic example of the Schrodinger’s Cat paradox in action.
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| It was impossible for scientists to calculate exactly when any individual atom would lose one or more of its electrons |
You will surely all have heard of Schrodinger’s Cat… the second most famous cat in the world after Sylvester. But if not, I’ll outline the basic paradox in as far as I understand it, and in as few words as I can.
At a public lecture in 1935, Swiss physicist Erwin Schrodinger proposed a hypothetical scenario to explain the impossibility of predicting random events at quantum level. One example out of many would be radioactive decay. Radioactive elements have what is known as a ‘half-life’ – a period of time (differing vastly from one element to another) in which half the element’s atoms will have decayed.
But while scientists were able accurately to predict that time frame, it proved impossible to calculate exactly when any individual atom would lose one or more of its electrons. These particles are simply too small to be physically observed by any known apparatus; and in any case, the act of ‘observing’ them would itself have an impact on their behaviour.
In the unfathomable world of quantum mechanics – whose written language is mathematics – this uncertainty is translated into a +/- situation. To all intents and purposes, sub-atomic particles can indeed occupy contrasting states at the same time. They can even occupy different spaces at the same time (an ability denied to all non-quantum things… unless you count someone like Franco Debono, who seems to be present in all places, at all times). .
At a public lecture in 1935, Swiss physicist Erwin Schrodinger proposed a hypothetical scenario to explain the impossibility of predicting random events at quantum level. One example out of many would be radioactive decay. Radioactive elements have what is known as a ‘half-life’ – a period of time (differing vastly from one element to another) in which half the element’s atoms will have decayed.
But while scientists were able accurately to predict that time frame, it proved impossible to calculate exactly when any individual atom would lose one or more of its electrons. These particles are simply too small to be physically observed by any known apparatus; and in any case, the act of ‘observing’ them would itself have an impact on their behaviour.
In the unfathomable world of quantum mechanics – whose written language is mathematics – this uncertainty is translated into a +/- situation. To all intents and purposes, sub-atomic particles can indeed occupy contrasting states at the same time. They can even occupy different spaces at the same time (an ability denied to all non-quantum things… unless you count someone like Franco Debono, who seems to be present in all places, at all times). .
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