No cats were harmed during this thought experiment!

Schrödingers cat is a thought experiment that explains the concept of a superposition: when a state is unsure until it is observed.

[Living_Murphys_Law]

What's funny about this is that Schrodinger never meant to imply that this is how the world actually exists. He came up with it as a way to show how ridiculous he thought the idea of quantum superposition was.

(Plus, the cat likely counts as an observer, so therefore it collapses right then. The cat is still either alive or dead.)

[garg]

My logical brain never really liked this idea

I always think about how the cat isn’t and can’t be *both* alive and dead at the same time, it’s simply one or the other and we simply don’t know, and that there are other ways to tell which one they are without looking

There *has* to be a better metaphor for explaining this sort of thing, because this one just has too many problems for me

[Taxi_developer]

The cat's fate is already sealed, we just don't know the outcome. This is the equivalent on praying you get a good grade over a test that was already graded, it does nothing.

[kickpushlongboards]

Technically the cat would never see the explosion since the explosion moves faster than the brain can comprehend the explosion

[AidanRatnage]

The cat is observing so It can't be in a superposition.

[happyvirus]

Now we shall go beyond the 1% divergence where the observer saw the cat died but in reality alive. Operation Skuld, commence!

[bananapppupu]

I want to clarify: this is specifically in a situation in which quantum decay is what triggers the killing mechanism. Also, it was first introduced as an absurdity, to mock quantum mechanics

[platosbeard]

Same experiment, but with Max Tegmark in the bunker!

[fuecOHKO]

The cat's alive or deadness is observed by every other particle in the universe, so the cat is not truly in a quantum superposition.

[itsRuszard]

Just build a window into the bunker so you know what's happening. Where's my Nobel Award?

[kanec]

shrodinger was trying to say the opposite of this theory

[MBC_XXIII]

It's not because the explosive have 50% chance to explode that the experiment will result to the cat didn't survive 50% of the time. It's like toss a coin and expect to get a perfect 50% of each side. It can stay around 50% but it is not relative/equal of the explosive %.

[AnimilesYT]

According to my Genshin pulls there's a chance of about 25% for the cat to be alive xD

[HeWhoProclaims]

How do we know that, it's not us that's entangled in a superposition because the cat hasn't opened the box it's in, to see if we exist or not?

[shadowdart]

What about if the cat is asleep? The powder explodes and the cat doesn't see it explode

[stevenhazelwood]

OK, so, the analogy of a tree falling and nobody around. Does it make a sound?

Some people judge it as no because nobody is there to hear it. My side is yes, because it'll make a sound regardless of someone there to hear it.

Could it be argued that because the "process" wasn't observed and neither was the outcome that it didn't happen?

[ViperKing]

Exploding kittens the card game reference?

[markherron]

I thought Shrödinger put this idea forward as a way of showing how ridiculous quantum theories were. He couldn't grasp superposition and thought it ridiculous that the cat was both alive and dead until observed. No?

[brotmitbutter]

how about we become entangled with the outcome by interacting with its result, and the whole universe is entangled and all of its possibilities existing for an outside observer?

[domi-no]

I hate it when reality isnt deterministic (screaming british guy with gun)