Are there two cats or one cat that is simultaneously dead and alive?

is this about Croydon?

Look in the box and check.

Infinite cats

wasn’t me, I wasn’t there, you can’t prove anything

There’s a high probability they are siamese twins…

strange

I can see I’m going to have to look this up for myself. i should have known better than to post after work on a friday.

Have you tried getting one cat in a box Let alone two?

(The serious answer is that for anything the size of a cat environmental decoherence will ensure that cat is either dead or alive and not in a superposition of the two states dead and alive.)

Regards Andrew

I can see I’m going to have to look this up for myself.

Until you look it up there’s going to simultaneously two answers

Look in the box and check.

Dont leave the box open though. A fox might get in.

The point of the example is that there is one cat*. The only way to know if it’s dead or alive is to open the box so until then your model must work on the assumption that it is both dead and alive. As soon as you open the box your model must resolve to dead / alive.

*it’s imaginary though

Have you tried getting one cat in a box Let alone two?

Its really easy to get a cat into a box. All you need to do is not want it to go in there.

We used to trick our cats into getting into  a box to go to the vets by trying to stop them getting on the moment they noticed it.

I read Alice’s adventures in quantum land once, no cats in that thou but it’s very weird and I’m not sure that I’m any of the wiser.

Microsoft has released a software quantum development kit  if you want to turn your mind inside out. Qubits innit all about the  qubits.

yes and no.

0 or 1 isn’t the answer you are looking for.

Thanks for all your answers. I now feel ready for my journey into superposition and/or decoherence.

I might indulge in one more beverage first though.

I’m on a journey into incoherence… another beverage! 🍺

Stevious is correct: until you open the box, the cat is both dead and alive

Stevious is correct: until you open the box, the cat is both dead and alive

What if the box is somehow both the exterior and interior of the cat?

Are you Teresa May and is this a new Brexit proposal?

What if the box is somehow both the exterior and interior of the cat?

Are you suggesting our skin is what defines our state of being and, by shedding our skin, we can free ourselves from our mortal confines and achieve a higher state of being?

Are you suggesting our skin is what defines our state of being and, by shedding our skin, we can free ourselves from our mortal confines and achieve a higher state of being?

Yes

you go first though

No, thanks. I’ve seen the film Martyrs.

Are there two cats or one cat that is simultaneously dead and alive?

Yes

It’s a really simple but really complicated question.

(The serious answer is that for anything the size of a cat environmental decoherence will ensure that cat is either dead or alive and not in a superposition of the two states dead and alive.)

You are Wigner’s friend and I claim my five pounds

There is only one cat. Though it can simultaneously be a dog.

There is no cat.

There are actually 4 cats. One is in the box and the other 2 are on the stairs plotting your demise.

Maths is a weakness.

I can’t help. I’m as thick as two short Plancks.

There is half a cat and half a fox, on average. Not all combinations are stable though. As soon as the box is opened, it instantly collapses to a stable state.

I have been having this argument with someone who is defending the jocularity of a cartoon that looks thus –

– to which i’ve said it doesn’t really work.

There is one cat, and it may, or may not, be dead.

THAT is the point, isn’t it – until the box is opened, both realities remain possible.

The cartoon doesn’t work as a joke because it misses the point – there is not, and can’t be, any ‘news’, can there?

As it is i’m coming across as an humourless arsehole in this matter, but i’m right aren’t i?

Is the box on a treadmill?

After you open the box, there are two versions of you. One where you saw the live cat and one where you saw the dead cat.

I actually carried out an experiment similar to this, but for real, a few months back.

I bought a lottery ticket, and used an online quantum random number generator to pick the numbers.

In this particular universe I won precisely nothing, but somewhere there’s a parallel version of me who is a multi-millionaire.

There is one cat, and it may, or may not, be dead.

No that’s wrong. It is both alive and dead