Schrödinger's cat
by jsbjsb001 from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5EY3P)
Below is a quote from Wikipedia that essentially explains what the thread title means;
Quote:
I've often wondered if it could be true that there both is and isn't a reason why things happen, and I'll give an example... it's by complete accident that I'm even a Linux user, in that; the only reason I even started using Linux was because I was doing a course many years ago now and the network administrator's office happened to be next to the classroom the course was held in. He saw that I had an interest in computers and gave me a couple of CD's with Ubuntu and I think Kubuntu on them, from memory (yes, CD's... it was that long ago now!). I'd never even heard of Linux before, never even knew there was such a thing as a "free OS" at the time. The point is: had I not done that course, or had the network administrator's office not been next door to that classroom (you had to walk through the classroom to get his office), I may never have even met him, and therefore, may not have ever started using Linux. I do believe that it was meant to be that I was meant to discover Linux, albeit accidentally, and be a Linux user. At least a part of the reason for that is because, when I use Windows (on other people's machines nowadays since I don't have it at home anymore), I feel nothing, it just feels like a "means to an end", beyond that, nothing. I fire up Linux, and even if I'm having the s*itest day imaginable, I feel free, like another world has opened up to me, interested, and like it's just "meant to be". I don't know about macOS since I've got next to no experience with that OS, so I cannot comment about that.
I have too many examples to list where I've been in a situation, and thought, "hang on a minute, I remember imagining this very situation the other day, and now it's happening for real!". This kind of deja vu keeps happening to me to this very day, almost like a "higher power" is warning me in advance for some reason (I'm not a believer in religion and I don't go to church either). But of course that would mean knowing in advance of something happening before it actually happens, and that just doesn't sound right at all to me. What's odd about the whole thing is that, it isn't like "here's a complete description of exactly what's going to happen" or some such, it's more like "snippets" of information about what's going to happen, but not enough to know the "who, when, where or what", just basically much like a movie trailer where you can get a rough sense of "the plot", but you'd have to actually watch the whole movie to know exactly what happens. But again, it just sounds crazy to me, and I have no idea what to make of it, none at all. I guess it would be nice to think that some "higher power" is "looking out for me", but I cannot see how I would know that one way or the other, nor how I would have any way to find out the answer to that question.
So on the one hand, I think there must be a reason for everything that's happened, but one the other hand... none of it makes any logical sense to me, so then I think, how can there be any reason for all of this at all?
My question is: do people here believe things "just happen" randomly and for no reason at all? Do you believe that there must be a reason for everything that happens, even if it's bad and makes no sense? Or indeed, do people here believe that two opposite states can coexist with each other, and both can be true, in that; things just randomly happen, but at the same time, there is also a reason for everything that happens? As it seems to me that, the last possibility couldn't possibly be true, and if it is... I fail to understand it. Thoughts?
PS: I'm not looking to debate religions here either, this is more about looking at it from an "areligous POV" if you know what I mean.
Quote:
| Schrodinger's cat: a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitor (e.g. Geiger counter) detects radioactivity (i.e. a single atom decaying), the flask is shattered, releasing the poison, which kills the cat. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead. This poses the question of when exactly quantum superposition ends and reality resolves into one possibility or the other. |
I have too many examples to list where I've been in a situation, and thought, "hang on a minute, I remember imagining this very situation the other day, and now it's happening for real!". This kind of deja vu keeps happening to me to this very day, almost like a "higher power" is warning me in advance for some reason (I'm not a believer in religion and I don't go to church either). But of course that would mean knowing in advance of something happening before it actually happens, and that just doesn't sound right at all to me. What's odd about the whole thing is that, it isn't like "here's a complete description of exactly what's going to happen" or some such, it's more like "snippets" of information about what's going to happen, but not enough to know the "who, when, where or what", just basically much like a movie trailer where you can get a rough sense of "the plot", but you'd have to actually watch the whole movie to know exactly what happens. But again, it just sounds crazy to me, and I have no idea what to make of it, none at all. I guess it would be nice to think that some "higher power" is "looking out for me", but I cannot see how I would know that one way or the other, nor how I would have any way to find out the answer to that question.
So on the one hand, I think there must be a reason for everything that's happened, but one the other hand... none of it makes any logical sense to me, so then I think, how can there be any reason for all of this at all?
My question is: do people here believe things "just happen" randomly and for no reason at all? Do you believe that there must be a reason for everything that happens, even if it's bad and makes no sense? Or indeed, do people here believe that two opposite states can coexist with each other, and both can be true, in that; things just randomly happen, but at the same time, there is also a reason for everything that happens? As it seems to me that, the last possibility couldn't possibly be true, and if it is... I fail to understand it. Thoughts?
PS: I'm not looking to debate religions here either, this is more about looking at it from an "areligous POV" if you know what I mean.