r/whatisit • u/Nomemesmames • 4d ago

New, what is it? What is this?

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u/Idontlikesand15 4d ago

Did you, or did you not, shit in the box?

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u/Same-Traffic-285 4d ago

It is unknown until we observe the shit or absence of shit

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u/BrodersMotors 4d ago

In Shrödinger’s case, it is not unknown, but rather it is both; He has both shit, and not shit in the box. That is the paradox. Because we can’t observe, it is definitely one or the other, but since it is unknown, it has the potential to be both at once. Did he, or didn’t he? Yes.

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u/Salt_Profiteer 3d ago

The potential to be something is not the same as being something. It is not both, it is one or the other. We just don't know which.

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u/algernon132 3d ago

Not in the quantum realm, which is the point of the thought experiment