The Lament of Schrödinger’s Cat

[Hawkman]

I am Schrödinger’s cat
And I’m stuck in a box that is dark
I wonder why? I hear you cry
Someone soon, I hope, will ask.

I am Schrödinger’s cat
Of life or death uncertain
I’ll stay this way, until some day
A hand will pull the curtain.

I am Schrödinger’s cat
The swine, he put me here
Is genius mad, or just plain bad
Do you think he shed a tear?

I am Schrödinger’s cat
The time it passes slowly
Please, someone ask, unseal the cask
Don’t deem the quest too lowly.

I am Schrödinger’s cat
Someone really should have told ‘im
Leave a cat overnight, in a box sealed tight
It’ll always be dead by mornin’.

I am Schrödinger’s cat
And I’m stuck in a box that is dark
I wonder why? I hear you cry
Someone soon, I hope, will ask.

[Pendragon]

That was a philosophical question that always appealed to me... does the cat actually exist? Wonderful well-crafted poem!

[qimissung]

Humorous exploration of the paradox-nicely done!

[muazjalil]

Well done......poor Schrödinger’s cat...someone ought to pull the curtain lol

[Hawkman]

New fans? How delightful. I thank you all for your kind reception of my drop of doggerel. If you like this sort of thing may I draw your attention to my entry in the: introductions>how old will you be in 2010 thread - which has otherwise passed un-noticed.

A poem a day keeps sanity at bay!

TTFN

[MorpheusSandman]

Funny this poem should come up NOW since there's been heavy debate and discussion on many film boards about the recent Coen Bros. movie called A Serious Man in which the main character teaches quantum physics and, in fact, the first scene we see of him he's discussing Shrodinger's Cat. This relates to the opening scene which is a Jewish folktale about a dybbyk who's a human who's not alive and not dead, and it's all wrapped up in a film that seems to retell Job without the God/Satan/bet framing device. It's a fascinating concept all around. I can't say I know crap about quantum physics - much less about the paradoxes created by observation - but I do love reading about it. This is the first poem I've seen on the subject and I like you tell it from the cat's perspective. Of course, the whole thing was merely meant to be a theoretical/metaphoric thought experiment and not literal, but one could easily read this piece as commentary or questioning of the real world application of these ideas.

[Hawkman]

Thank you, Sleep-bringer, for your observations and comments on the lament.

As I read them, listening to my illicit recording of the massed balalaikas of the KGB Ladies Academy Glee Club (sadly disbanded after Glasnost) and contemplate with pleasure their old calendar photographs; my favourite is Miss Oktober - I love the seductive way she’s draped over the Zil armoured car in muscular splendour, the light gleaming on the muzzle of her AK47 and the come-hither droop of her Slavic eyelids.

Sorry…

Got quite distracted there for a moment.

As I was saying, your observations on the apposite nature of the lament’s appearance in the light of the nature of a forthcoming Coen brother’s film, prompt me to state categorically that I was not aware of it. Though, in the past and in particular whilst studying, I was more clued up on contemporary film, I have not visited any forums or even the imdb for months, if not years.

What we may be dealing with here is synchronicity, although my personal opinion is that coincidences are a million to one shot, even though they seem to occur 9 times in 10.

What we are experiencing is an empirical observation of Morphic Resonance. If someone has an idea you can guarantee that lots of other people will have it at the same time. Example: someone makes a film about vampires, the next thing you know there is a steady stream of vampire flicks hitting the cinemas and then, before you realise it, TV networks are flooding the ether with vampire soaps. It’s viral, man.

As for the lament, well, I had the idea, it made me laugh, I wrote it. Everyone who reads and enjoys it is a blessing.

Live and be well.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Well, the poem alone was a great joy but now you've added to it your marvelous half-zany half serious rumifications (don't bother to look that up) which added to the fun... Thanks. (A subsequent thought occurred to me: from the cat's POV the rest of us are equally alive or dead until the lid is opened.)

[blank|verse]

Yes, I thought the poem itself was ok, but I found this far more entertaining - the subject of your next poem I hope! In fact, I'll save you the trouble...



Miss Oktober

As I read them,
listening to my illicit recording
of the massed balalaikas
of the KGB Ladies Academy Glee Club
(sadly disbanded after Glasnost)
I contemplate with pleasure their old calendar photographs;
my favourite is Miss Oktober -
I love the seductive way she’s draped
over the Zil armoured car in muscular splendour,
the light gleaming on the muzzle
of her AK47
and the come-hither droop of her Slavic eyelids.

[Hawkman]

Sweet Prince,

One is tempted to observe that the cat, assuming it was conscious at some stage before being so cruelly incarcerated, and actually living when placed in the box, would at least have a memory of the existence of the larger world and its inhabitants.

I fully concede that a fully conscious cat would strongly resist being so confined and therefore can not rule out sedation.

Now we come to the gist of your comment. We are now entering the realms of solipsism which, as you are probably aware, deals with the nature of persistence of existence: does anything exist if we have no direct sensory perception of it? Do things which we are no longer capable of directly perceiving cease to exist, in fact, is everything we perceive merely a construction of our own mind?

To a solipsistic cat, the rest of the universe would not exist and therefore the question of whether we were alive or dead would not arise.

I strongly suspect that for the unsolipsistic cat, the primary motivation would not be curiosity as to the vital state of anyone who would be in a position to open the box, but one of revenge, coupled with the practicality of sinking teeth and claws into vulnerable flesh, followed closely by a powerful desire to vacate the immediate vicinity.

There are further variations, so far not considered. These are outlined below and are lifted from an email I sent to my brother as part of an ongoing discussion of the subject.

“Sadly, the ability to open the box from the inside is not permitted for the
occupant. If it were, Schrödinger's Cat would undoubtedly have escaped,
providing an unwelcome third option in the paradox, which, to date, has only
postulated that the condition of the cat be either living or dead (and
ultimately determinable only by the opening of the box). This third condition,
herein after referred to as, 'Absent', would place a whole new complexion on
the matter! It adds more variables. If the cat's status can only be alive or
dead, then merely lifting the box would be unlikely to determine the cat's
condition. It would be fairly indicative though, in determining whether the cat
was, in fact, inside. (assuming that the only options regarding content were either cat, or no cat, with a similar flip-flop state for live or dead.)

To prevent this it would be necessary to bolt the box down. In the new
scenario each of the three possible states could only be revealed by
physically opening the box.”

It follows that the solipsist outside the box could not be sure of the existence of the cat either alive or dead, until they opened the box.

Live long and prosper.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Sweet Prince,

One is tempted to observe that the cat, assuming it was conscious at some stage before being so cruelly incarcerated, and actually living when placed in the box, would at least have a memory of the existence of the larger world and its inhabitants.

Brother/Sister Hawkman, you wield a heavy philosophic hammer throughout this but, first, the cat, post Bishop Berkley (sp?) would understand that the existence of the reality it had once thought it knew, no longer existed so long as it was no longer before its eyes, unless it behaved as Dr. Johnson did when he was asked how he refuted the estimable Bishop's thesis:

"Thus do I refute it," he answered, administering a hard kick to the leg of the table before him.


I fully concede that a fully conscious cat would strongly resist being so confined and therefore can not rule out sedation.

Now we come to the gist of your comment. We are now entering the realms of solipsism which, as you are probably aware, deals with the nature of persistence of existence: does anything exist if we have no direct sensory perception of it? Do things which we are no longer capable of directly perceiving cease to exist, in fact, is everything we perceive merely a construction of our own mind?

To a solipsistic cat, the rest of the universe would not exist and therefore the question of whether we were alive or dead would not arise.

I strongly suspect that for the unsolipsistic cat, the primary motivation would not be curiosity as to the vital state of anyone who would be in a position to open the box, but one of revenge, coupled with the practicality of sinking teeth and claws into vulnerable flesh, followed closely by a powerful desire to vacate the immediate vicinity.

There are further variations, so far not considered. These are outlined below and are lifted from an email I sent to my brother as part of an ongoing discussion of the subject.

“Sadly, the ability to open the box from the inside is not permitted for the
occupant. If it were, Schrödinger's Cat would undoubtedly have escaped,
providing an unwelcome third option in the paradox, which, to date, has only
postulated that the condition of the cat be either living or dead (and
ultimately determinable only by the opening of the box). This third condition,
herein after referred to as, 'Absent', would place a whole new complexion on
the matter! It adds more variables. If the cat's status can only be alive or
dead, then merely lifting the box would be unlikely to determine the cat's
condition. It would be fairly indicative though, in determining whether the cat
was, in fact, inside. (assuming that the only options regarding content were either cat, or no cat, with a similar flip-flop state for live or dead.)

To prevent this it would be necessary to bolt the box down. In the new
scenario each of the three possible states could only be revealed by
physically opening the box.”

It follows that the solipsist outside the box could not be sure of the existence of the cat either alive or dead, until they opened the box.

Live long and prosper.

If the klutz with the key
would only unlock the box with the cat
we could all carry on
with our non-Quantum business.

Bear in mind Neils Bohr's observation that anyone who thinks about Quantum Dynamics without getting dizzy has not understood it. I suggest we apply a QD (Quantum Dizziness) scale to estimate our respective understanding of these monkey-shines.

[Hawkman]

Friend Myshkin,

This philosophical discourse has given me much pleasure and I thank you for your input. Your suggestion of applying a ‘quantum dizziness scale’ is one which I shall contemplate with all due seriousness.

Unfortunately it raises questions regarding Hi/Lo orientation together with the need for the determination of an appropriate scale.

Being naturally indecisive (and intrinsically lazy) I shall leave these momentous decisions to some more purposeful soul.

I apologise to everyone for leaving them, at least for the moment, bereft of a personal profile which they can interrogate on the forum. I will eventually get around to fleshing it out. For the moment however and in the light of your ‘Brother/Sister’ salutation, I am happy to enlighten one and all thus far:

I am male, middle-aged, and straight
And so effectively precluded
From arts creative based employment
Don’t say that I’m deluded

Of Anglo-Saxon-Welsh descent
I’m also broke, I’m sad to say
With little money left unspent
The ladies tend to keep away

So singly, in my garret, starving
On my keyboard typing hard
Peers’ respect and esteem craving
I make the world my new back yard

If you should be so inclined I invite you to check out my not-so-short story posted under ‘The Tale of Mr. Mac’ thread. It’s a bit long and in two parts but worth the effort if you stick with it. You can have fun spotting all the inter-textual references.

Via con Dios

[Sampson]

Hmm... This poem is certainly one which will create animated discussion, as the thread proves. I like the poem, but to be honest I think the simple idea of this poem is the truly inspired element. This theory is one which captured my imagination when a physics competent friend explained it to me late one night. You have done poetic justice to an insane piece of scientific history!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Friend Myshkin,

If you should be so inclined I invite you to check out my not-so-short story posted under ‘The Tale of Mr. Mac’ thread. It’s a bit long and in two parts but worth the effort if you stick with it. You can have fun spotting all the inter-textual references.

Via con Dios

I have indeed checked it out and highly recommend it to others,