If a Tree Falls in the Forest: Schrodinger’s Cat

I recently bought a series of lectures from The Teaching Company entitled Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science. The lectures are presented by Professor Steven Gimbel from Gettysburg College who discusses changes in understanding of reality over time mostly in scientific and mathematical terms, though he does touch on philosophy. In one of the lectures he spoke about the Schrodinger Equation and the Schrodinger’s Cat experiment. I think this experiment gives a more elegant explanation than I did in previous posts on the Zen coan which asks: “if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, is there a sound?” Following quotes are from the lecture: “When a quantum system is not observed, it occupies a state of superposition; it is in a combination of every possible state it could occupy. But the instant we observe the system, it collapses into one state, The Schrodinger Equation gives us the odds that we will find it in each of the possibilities, but the best we get is a probability.” The Schrodinger’s Cat is a thought experiment that I will try to condense and hopefully not get wrong in the process. “We can create a pair of electrons that when we do not look at them are in superposed states of clockwise and counterclockwise spin, but as soon as we observe one, both collapse into a single state such that one is always opposite of the other, but we will never know which will be which.” The experiment imagines a box into which is placed this created electron pair, a “spin” detector, a poison capsule and a cat. If the detector senses one direction it does nothing, while the other direction triggers a mechanism which bursts the capsule releasing the poison gas, killing the cat. A button is pushed turning on the detector and the electron collapses from its superposed state. Everything in the box, is a physical thing, all atoms, and while unobserved “all are in a superposed state in a grand entangled system”. As long as we don’t open the box, the cat, also being in a superposed state, existing in every possible position, is both alive and dead. Once the box is opened (there is a listener in the forest), the cat collapses into a single state and is either dead or alive (who hears the sound of the tree falling), depending on which way the detector happened to sense the spin direction. I imagine the same can be said of the forest. Everything there is in a superposed state in an entangled system and until observed, there is not only no tree but no forest.

Sociology-A Two Edged Sword

I just read an article in New Republic entitled “Pulp Propaganda” by Jeet Heer. He writes about a mid-twentieth century cartoon character created by Roy Crane. Buz Sawyer was a hero who fought against all of our foes during the Cold War from Iran to Vietnam, exalting the virtues of free enterprise, condemning the evils of communism and demonstrating the benevolence of the United States. When Roy Crane passed they found documents in his archives, letters he received from the State Department that outlined the story lines in some detail which he followed. A week ago, Fareed Zakaria had a guest on his Sunday GPS show on CNN who was the minister of a new department in the UK known as “Nudge”. The role of the organization was to encourage citizens to behave properly (pay their taxes, obey laws, help their neighbors, etc.) by including phrases like “your neighbors pay their taxes” in information sent out to the public. They found the turn of phrase had a measurable impact on people’s behavior. I suspect this department along with the department under the Secretary of State that directing Buz Sawyer, are staffed by sociologists, who after all are students of human behavior and understand what makes us tick. I have often thought about the use of sociology in commerce and government, recognizing that in both institutions, it can and does serve both a beneficial and nefarious purpose. In the first example above the government was trying to manipulate us and others who read our newspapers around the world into seeing us as benevolent supporters of freedom and wellbeing of people around the world. At the extremes, entire population segments, like the Jews in Germany, the Palestinians in Israel or more and more Muslims here, are pronounced to be evil doers, destroying an economy, occupying promised lands or threatening a culture. The second example is a positive one, where by proper placement of a few words, instead of brutal enforcement, people can be nudged to socially beneficial behavior. In commerce sociology is also a two edged sword. Sociologists, considering their understanding of human behavior, can use this information, through advertising, packaging and product placement get us to enhance a company’s profit sometimes even at the cost of our health and wellbeing (cigarettes, alcohol and sugared foods) or buy stuff of no value to us (pet rocks, many children’s toys and overly expensive golf balls). On the positive side sociologists can contribute ideas for making a workplace more livable. (I had to think hard to come up with a positive for the commercial.) In fact everyone probably uses their understanding of what we humans react to in presenting our outward appearance and selecting and arranging our words and phrases. We get dressed up and answer questions we think will help us get a job. We act sweet or manly and considerate to make us appealing to a potential mate. We all, to varying degrees try to do in an amateurish way, what professional sociologists do expertly. So what is the issue? The internet has allowed almost anyone to reach almost everyone and facilitated the use of the knowledge of human nature for their advantage. Unfortunately sociology, amateur or professional, is used more for selfish commercial purposes and spreading extreme ideologies than to advance society’s well -being. Even ISIS has developed this skill. They have learned the word, from their misinterpretation of the Koran, to entice disenchanted youths to join their cause and commit heinous acts against humanity. The skills used by “URGE” in the UK which are good can easily, in the hands of a different government, be used for evil.