In Schroedinger’s Cat We Trust
During my endless hours driving down stretches of highway in
a vehicle large enough to annihilate just about anything the gets in the way I found
myself daydreaming and pondering different ideas as they drifted into my mind.
I remembered the topic of Schroedinger’s Cat in some of my college classes and
somehow connected it to the idea of religion and ended up with a surprising dilemma.
Now I must warn you, if you continue reading you will be forced to make some
kind of a choice at the end. But not to worry, if you hold fast to any kind of
belief then the choice will be very easy for you. Before I present the dilemma
to you, I must first explain Schroedinger’s Cat.
You find a cat and a box. You put this cat inside the box. Inside
this box is a vial of poison. If the glass vial is broken it will release the
poison and kill the cat. Above the vial is a heavy hammer attached to a device
with a string. This device will release the string at an unknown time which
will allow the hammer to fall, which will break the vial and thus kill the cat.
Now the device is completely random and you have no idea when it will release
the string. It could be in the next minute or it may take years or it may never
release the string at all. For the sake of the experiment, the cat will only
die if the poison is released. In other words, ignore natural causes of death
such as hunger or dehydration. This cat is supremely special, at least until it
is poisoned.
Now you close the box, lock it, and you walk away. You come
back an hour later and approach the box. You look at the box and wonder…Hmm…is
the cat dead? Or is the cat still alive? Either one is possible but you won’t
know the answer until you open the box.
You reach out to open it but you realize someone else came
and locked it and you have no idea how to open it. In dismay you look for the
key but you are unable to find it. Since you must know the truth about the
status of the cat, you leave the box and diligently look for the key. One week
later you still do not have the key and you have lost hope of ever finding it.
You now realize you may never be able to open the box and discover the truth.
You return to the box in hopes that someone else has found a
way to open it. Instead you are startled to see that two large groups of people
have congregated at the box. There is a group on the Left and a group on the
Right. Each group believes that this cat is supremely special and have each
developed a belief system based on this cat.
The group on the Left believes the cat is alive and well.
They celebrate the life of the cat and hold services, song, and dance in honor
of the cat’s life. You ask the leader of the group, “Why do think the cat is
alive??” The leader fervently replies, “Of course the cat is alive, it must
be! Come join us! Believe and have
faith!!”
Not being convinced you go to the group on the Right. You
find that they believe the opposite, that the cat is dead. They hold rituals,
ceremonies, and sacrifices of care in honor of the death of the cat. You ask
the leader of the group “Why do you think the cat is dead??” He replies that it
is simply what he chooses to believe and that you should join them because his
group is better.
You step back for a moment. Both groups seem to be convinced
in their respective beliefs and have developed a belief system around their assumption
of the cat. Neither group can prove their assumption yet both demonstrate powerful
faith in their respective belief.
So here is your dilemma and I am afraid you must now make a
choice:
Do you choose the Left? It is certainly possible the cat is
alive and this group holds the correct belief therefore you cannot accuse them
of being wrong. But since you cannot open the box you are making an assumption
which means you may be wrong anyway.
Do you choose the Right? It is also possible the cat is dead
and that this group holds the correct belief and therefore you also cannot
accuse them of being wrong. But since you cannot open the box you are making an
assumption which means you may be wrong anyway.
Do you choose neither? To choose neither is not a logical
choice. Obviously the cat must be either dead or alive and to choose neither
means by default you are neglecting the correct choice which means you made the
wrong choice. Of course you can make the wrong choice if you’d like.
Do you choose both? This choice means you agree with Schroedinger.
Schroedinger believes the cat is both dead AND alive at the same time and will
remain so until the box is opened. By choosing this option you cannot join
either group and must continue to hunt for the key that cannot be found.
Of course this whole example is silly. I mean, a supreme
cat? Really? But if you are not a cat person, put something else in the box.
Put whatever you want. If you dare, then put the axiom of your belief in the
box. You might even try putting God in the box in place of the cat. Think about
that….
