Cat in the box

Ha but you can't measure anything without effecting it, ok not strictly true, but it certainly is in electronics.

Blind people aren't stupid, (At the risk of flogging a dead horse) I'm sure they could tell the difference between a live and dead cat.

I think you are missing the point, but then, so may I! It doesn't matter how the observation is made, surely, the point is that the state is undetermined until it is observed.

Similarly if you deal a deck of cards, the cards don't have pictures on until you look at them. _{(that's a joke as anyone who's plyed duplicate bridge will testify).}

But back to the picture...dodgy things pictures, harder to tell from a pic if it is..
a) Genuine
b) When it was taken
c) If it's a picture of a dead or merely sleeping cat.

I shall curl up and ponder this catly topic at great length as I have exceeded my usual Brevquot.

Del

Presume that you know the authenticity of the photo.Presume also that the cat is on a treadmill, and that he will be moving at all times that he is alive,and will spill off of the treadmill if he is dead.At some random time, the photo is taken, but no one sees the photo for several days.Is the cat in the superposition for the few days before the picture is viewed,after it is taken?Does the universe have to be observed in order to exist? If so, was the BIG BANG singularity banging and not banging at the same time until it was observed? If so, who, or what observed it to collapse it's state into the universe that we "see" now?Does the world disappear when you die? Are we all just extras in someone else's reality? Or is the world simply here because I perceive it to be? Would the world disappear if I suddenly became blind?

What about less intelligent creatures.If they observe an event,does it collapse into reality when they observe it, or does it require the observation of that supremely intelligent and egotistical creature, the Human? How far down the evolutionary scale do we have to go before observation does not matter? Bacteria? Viruses? Atoms? Muons, Gluons,Strings?

Einstein said that reality is an illusion, but a very convincing one.

I for one have to agree.

The cat in the box knows.

Does the cat suffice as an observer?

Perhaps its telepathically linked twin?

Despite the cleverness of the tratment in words, The math is likely less ambiguous.

In the non quantum world in which I live, The cat is either alive or dead.The REAL problem is with the observers knowledge (ie either I know or I don't) Blaming the cat for the observers ignorance is something that my dog would try to pull.

Let us know what you answer you purrfect, mr del.

milo

I suggest reading the short sc-fi story:"The news from D Street" for a twist on reality.

What if a blind person opened the box? Would this affect the outcome?

-Depends on whether the blind person is in a box or not.

If reality cannot exist until it is perceived,please define perception.For all I know, I may be the only real "person" in this world.All I can detect of the world is really brought to me by my 5 senses.Everything may be an elaborate sophisticated illusion.

Consider a machine with the same inputs:smell,taste,vision,hearing,touch,etc.A stimulation of any or all of these senses could create a virtual reality,even if the signals were false.

Imagine your brain immersed in an ocean of ink, with no inputs whatsoever.Could you detect the passage of time?Would an hour feel the same as a year or a century?

Now iimagine senses being connected to your brain. All information from outside is being filtered and conditioned.Sound within a certain narrow range,the same with the other inputs.No X rays or infrared detected,etc.

So in effect, our existence is defined by our senses.We have no real idea of true reality,only a narrow slice of it.Sure, we have machines that can detect infrared,etc. and downshift it into visible spectrum so that we can view objects not normally visible to us, but a lot is lost in translation.I would imagine X ray to be the most beautiful and intense purple, and infrared to be the most dynamic red.True reality, if I can call it that ,is much greater and more fantastic than I can possibly imagine, and probably more information than I can process, so I guess it is good that reality is "dumbed down" for our benefit. But what an illusion!

Of course, I could be wrong.

Whut u been smokin'?