I’ve been thinking about this for awhile now.
If you aren’t familiar with Schrodinger’s Cat, it’s a thought experiment that says (and I’m putting this very, very simplistically because I sure don’t understand the whole thing) that two possibilities can equally exist as truth until one of them has been proven wrong. Imagine there’s this opaque, soundproof box with a cat inside. Additionally there’s material in the box that would kill the cat after a certain amount of time has expired. If that time mark has been reached, the cat can’t be proven alive or dead, even though all evidence should support it being dead. Because it can’t be proven alive or dead, that means it’s alive and dead at the same time.
I find the little I know about thought experiments to be pretty interesting. I’ve learned it’s probably best to leave understanding them to the quantum physicists who think them up.
Anyway.
I like to apply the same idea behind Schrodinger’s Cat — or at least my likely misinterpreted understanding of it — to dealing with the same unresolved events each of us encounters several times each day. Say, for example, you’re anxiously awaiting a phone message or a text from someone with very important news. You’re going about your day, and DING. Whatever your notification sound is goes off, alerting you to a new message. You look at your phone and see who it’s from. Oooh! The person you’ve been waiting to hear from!
You know that hybrid feeling of dread and anticipation you’re immediately hit with when you see that message has arrived? I say that comes from knowing you’re about to either face the dream or the nightmare. That might be kind of dramatic, but in some cases probably not. Something huge you’re waiting to have happen and have been hoping against hope for so long has finally arrived at your metaphorical doorstep. Will you experience jubilation or disappointment? Have you ever gotten such a message and hesitated for even a moment before discovering what it says? There’s that Schrodinger’s Cat moment. You want to prolong the possibility that the dream might come true because you know it’s possible that it won’t once you discover the truth. You want to keep the cat alive for a little longer.
This works the other way, too. Let’s say you were waiting to hear news that wasn’t so good, maybe something like a test results from a doctor, or some kind of financial or legal issue that could upset your life, or an update on the condition of someone you care about who is faced with some serious problem. You can hope things will work out for the best, but in cases like these there’s very little you can do other than wait. What happens when that email notification pops up? Would you open it right away to find out what happened? Or would you be feeling such an undercurrent of expectant dread that you’d want to spend a few more seconds living in a world where the bad news you’re anticipating isn’t real? You don’t want to open the box because you don’t want to discover that the cat has died.
Everyone has possibilities like this they have to face. They aren’t all life-altering events, but I’d say everyone has probably had their share of those, or will eventually. I wonder how many people would consider themselves to be optimistic and brave enough to see the notification and jump right in to find out the truth immediately. Sometimes I am, but usually I put it off as long as I can, letting both possibilities exist until I can’t stand it anymore, then I just tear off the Band-Aid before I can sink any further into anxiousness.
I’m not sure why I’ve been thinking about this so much in the past few days. The calendar would make it seem like it would have something to do with the approaching end of the school year, but I’m not finding the connection…one more thing to think about, I guess.
Anyway. May is over in a few hours. Everyone have a nice June, and try to squeeze as many happy moments from it as you can.
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