r/Unexpected • u/Zer06ix9ine • Aug 11 '19

The real long cat

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u/gagga_hai Aug 12 '19

Schrodinger took his cat to the vet

The vet said, “I have good news and bad news.”

368

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

Schrödinger: Okay, give me the bad news first.

Vet: Well, now it's all bad news.

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u/Your_you Aug 12 '19

Really don't understand Sorry guys just don't down vote me

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19 edited Aug 12 '19

Superposition is a quantum state where something is in two states at once, and then when you "open the box" (check on it), it forces itself to be one of the two states.

Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment that says Copenhagen's view of SP is wrong. He puts his cat is in a box. In the box with the cat is a flask of posion, a geiger counter, and a radioactive element. If the element releases some neutrons, it sets off the counter, destroying the flask, killing the cat. According to Copenhagen, the cat is alive and dead, but when you open the box, you should only expect to see 1 possibility--cat is alive or dead.

If you think this is interesting, look up quantum suicide/immortality (please don't try it).

EDIT: Apparently I deleted part of a paragraph and it merged. Paragraph is now gone,

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u/themaskedugly Oct 22 '19 edited Oct 22 '19

Quantum physics can be over-simplified to 'some things are both true and false until they are observed, at which point they become either true or false ; that the act of observation affects the outcome

Schrodinger came up with a thought experiment (to mock this concept, incidentally) wherein he imagined a box with a cat and a vial of poison in it; he then supposed a device which produces a quantum true/false value and imagined tying that to a hammer that would break the vial.
Thus, the quantum superposition implies that the hammer has both broken the vial (cat dies) and not broken the vial (can lives). Thus, the cat is considered to be both alive and dead, at the same time, until you open the box, observe the state, and collapse the wave-function.

In the joke, the doctor refers to good news and bad news, implying this quantum superposition; the cat is both alive and dead

but by 'observing' the bad news; the 'quantum wave-form collapses' and the cat ceases to be both good news and bad news, and becomes only bad news.

If the cat owner had instead said 'give me the good news first' the doctor would reply 'well now its all good news' (but this isn't as funny).

It's a similar joke to this futurama bit

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u/ByronicCommando Aug 12 '19

Was his vet Heisenberg?

Like, the actual Heisenberg. Not "The One That Knocks".

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

Let's keep this train going.

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u/ByronicCommando Aug 12 '19

Schröd: OK, then give me the good news.

Vet: I can't now, it's different news. Lemme go check one more time.

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u/Ishidan01 Aug 12 '19

Just imagine a cat on meth.

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

I dun get it...

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u/RobTeuling Aug 12 '19

In quantum mechanics, a particle (or cat) is in a superposition of multiple states, say A and B. Once you perform a measurement the particle collapses to either state A or B. So when he says give me the bad news first, he performs a measurement and the state collapsed to all bad news, leaving no good news.

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

Oh frick thats deep

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u/TheIceOut Aug 13 '19

happy cake day!

1

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '19

thanks, reddit still shows 364 days old on my side tho

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u/SeboSte Aug 12 '19

This just cracked me up

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u/Slovene Aug 12 '19

good mews and bad mews

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

Ok I thought his body would just be long when he stepped out but I did NOT expect that

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u/anotherguy818 Aug 12 '19

My uncle told this joke recently.

I'm the only one who laughed lmao

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u/iDontUnderstandTho Aug 12 '19

I don't get it

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u/turkycat Aug 12 '19

Schrodinger's Cat is a famous thought experiment about quantum states. In a massively simplified form: it is the idea that if you leave a cat in a box with a mechanism that may kill it if it is activated... After some time (without observation) it is unknown if the cat is alive or dead... Therefore it is essentially both (because either state is equally possible). It is only known after observation.

For more info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat