Here is a thought provoking video on the Shrödinger’s Cat paradox, from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. According to Wikipedia, Shrödinger’s Cat is a thought experiment devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the “Copenhagen interpretation” of quantum mechanics when applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents a cat in a closed box that is either alive or dead, depending on an earlier random event that would have killed it … or not. But it obviously cannot exist in both states. And yet, this is how quantum mechanics is used to understand atomic structures.
I never really understood the paradox, and am not sure I do even after viewing this video. The video is very well done, directed by Chris Mullington of the TV Factory.
And for what its worth, there is a new research paper that suggests that the Copenhagen interpretation is wrong. Who’d a thunk it.