Monday, April 30, 2007

Wittgenstein's cat

I have this bad habit of scribing nonsensical things in my notebook during meetings and conferences. Just listening to other people talk seems to bore my brain. I need to do something extra to properly exercise it.

That's how I came up with the idea of volcano whales, which illustration I use for the current version of my name card.

The other day I was attending a conference, and was half consciously "at it" again. After somehow going into drawing a cat, I came upon this idea of revising the fascinating concept of the Schrödinger's cat.

Schrödinger's venerable cat has been doing the scientific community a lot of service by providing a striking illustration of the mystery of quantum mechanics, after its introduction to humanity in 1935. However, as the Gedanken experiment involves the life and death of a lovable animal, some people might express uneasiness from politically correct reasons.

Here's the new version. It is called "Wittgenstein's cat". One Sunday afternoon, when the sky's blue and the sun is shining, the deep thinking philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein begins to lecture his latest theory to his cat. In this Gedanken experiment, the key question is whether the cat will be awake or asleep after five minutes. Would the cat be alert and attentive to what Wittgenstein is saying, or would it be happily asleep, taking a well-earned nap after listening to his mater's intractable ideas?
According to quantum mechanics, there will be a superposition of the awake cat and the sleeping cat. You would not know which until you actually make the observation. This is the Gedanken experiment of Wittgenstein's cat.

One crucial condition for this experiment to make sense is that the philosopher keeps talking philosophy (blah, blah, blah, ....) whatever the attitude of the cat turns out to be. In other words, the philosopher should not care whether the cat is listening or not, and keep talking philosophy anyway.

This particular condition, given the known facts about Wittgenstein and other philosophically oriented people, is quite likely to be satisfied.



Wittgenstein's cat. A politically correct version of the Schrödinger's cat experiment.

81 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was good by the experiment that was kind to a cat.

SHIRO said...

I also agree with former comment.
Please don't kill cats, like "Umibe no Kafuka" by Haruki Murakami.

Anonymous said...

Dear lovely gentleman,
Thank you very much for your kind and happy explanetion.
But,why is Vitogenshutain chosen?
Searching for the meaning seems to be also interesting.

Anonymous said...

Umm...... "Life and death" and "awake and sleep" seems quite similar.

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Thanks to author.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Build a watch in 179 easy steps - by C. Forsberg.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

Anonymous said...

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience.

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81

Anonymous said...

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Ever notice how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.

Anonymous said...

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.

Anonymous said...

Ever notice how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

When there's a will, I want to be in it.

Anonymous said...

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

Anonymous said...

When there's a will, I want to be in it.

Anonymous said...

Please write anything else!

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

Save the whales, collect the whole set

Anonymous said...

A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Anonymous said...

When there's a will, I want to be in it.

Anonymous said...

Build a watch in 179 easy steps - by C. Forsberg.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!

Anonymous said...

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.

Anonymous said...

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Anonymous said...

All generalizations are false, including this one.

Anonymous said...

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.

Anonymous said...

Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.

Anonymous said...

A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies

Anonymous said...

Build a watch in 179 easy steps - by C. Forsberg.

Anonymous said...

C++ should have been called B

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Anonymous said...

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Anonymous said...

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

Anonymous said...

Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.

Anonymous said...

Nice Article.

Anonymous said...

Energizer Bunny Arrested! Charged with battery.

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