Schrödinger’s Cat – Explained

Here is the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment explained in terms of my idea which I call Scale Theory. You don’t have to fully ‘get’ the theory to understand the explanation as it applies to Schrödinger’s cat. But in short – Scale Theory proposes that scale is a dimension, just as “up and down” is a dimension. Furthermore, Scale Theory says that at scale extremes (very very large and very very small scales), the fabric of the universe is warped or bent. Now don’t flip out – Einstein takes the blame for proposing that our universe is bendable – not me.

So, where the “information” about Schrödinger’s cat resides (at sub Planck length scales) – time and space are warped or bent – just as if you were near a black hole. (Side note: we are on the inside of this particular black hole so instead of ‘stuff’ being sucked in – it’s being spit out). In this ‘bent’ place, time doesn’t exist as we know it – in a before, now and after fashion. In this place, there’s room for all “befores”, all “nows”, and all “afters”. Yes, there’s even room for information about both a “living cat” and a “dead cat”.

OK – So here’s what’s happening with Schrödinger’s cat:

Space-time is fundamentally different at very very small scales where the information about all of the cat’s fates reside. At this place, information about the living and dead cat happily coexist, superimposed on top of each other. (BTW this is different from the Hilbert Space of String Theory)

Then, due to the properties of the border between this bent small-scale place and the unbent place were we experience the world, some of the information is left behind. That is, as the information transitions across this quantum classical border, only some of the information is allowed safe passage.

Think of it this way. Let’s say that The Rolling Stones hold a concert where tickets are awarded by lottery. This means that only the fans that (by chance) win the lottery get into the show. The rest of the fans are denied access. Note however that this doesn’t mean that the losing fans don’t exist. All of the fans exist. Just as with the quantum classical border, due to the limitations of the venue, only the winners get to experience the concert. By the way – the odds of winning the living or dead cat lottery are described by the wave function.

So back to the cat. At the start, the information about both the living cat and the dead cat exist in the realm of the very very small. Then, the information that successfully makes its way into the larger scale, unbent realm, becomes the experienced or measured reality.

In his book Now: The Physics of Time, Muller writes, “What does it take to make the wave function collapse? We don’t know.”

Well, Scale Theory provides some answers. (1) It explains why the wave function appears to collapse and (2) it allows us to speculate about what a measurement might be.

The wave function appears to collapse because unbent scale-time is not able to accommodate the superimposed information that exists at very very small scales – where scale-time is bent. This mandates that only one of the cats can be observed in the unbent scale-time realm we occupy. This means that if the information about the living cat wins the Schrödinger lottery – we will observe (measure) only the living cat. We cannot experience both cats – our unbent realm doesn’t have room for both of them.

OK, so this explains why we perceive that the wave function is collapsing. So now let’s talk about the definition of measurement.

As I said, scale theory allows us to (at least) speculate about what a measurement might in fact be. Here is one possibility:

Let’s say we divide scale-time into these three parts: (1) the place where all the information exists at the very very small scale, (2) the place where we live out our lives and (3) the divide between the two. I propose that there might be a type of pressure between the very very small (1) and where we exist (2). This ‘pressure’ pushes information across the divide (3) which acts like an information filter – converting all of the potential realities described by the wave function into a single measured reality. This idea posits that what we perceive as measurements are the result of this flow. If this is the case, then an observer is not required to get the wave function to collapse.

Side note: Even if this pressure idea isn’t spot on – it’s still a win for Scale Theory in that it allows us to speculate on the definition of measurement.

And there you have it, the Scale Theory explanation of Schrödinger’s cat.

This explanation is an alternative to the prevailing theory called the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. So how does scale theory compare to many worlds? Well in this next post I compare the two – so read it and let me know which theory you believe makes more sense – mathematically speaking.

😃