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Free Will 327

[Illustration of Schrödinger's Cat experiment showing a cat in two states, a radioactive source, a Geiger counter, a hammer, and a poison vial]

Schrödinger’s Cat – both Alive and Dead

Since radioactive decay is a quantum event, we have to assume
it might or might not have happened right up until the point of
measurement. It is the same with any quantum event: photons reflecting
from a piece of glass, measuring the spin of an electron or measuring the
polarization of a photon. All these quantum effects exist in superposition
until measured. But in the real world, we don’t experience superposition.
If I miss the train, I miss it. I don’t partially catch it and partially miss
it, and I don’t experience any such quantum ambiguity. The only place
I ever see such effects is watching science fiction movies. In real life the
large scale world is certain. At what point does this quantum uncertainty
transition to our classical certainty? What is the state of the cat before I –
a sentient observer – open the box? Was the result of the decay measured
by the Geiger counter, the cat, or are we waiting for someone to open the
box and observe the result?

The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics – named
after the main center of early quantum theory at the Niels Bohr Institute
– says the cat is both alive and dead until I make a measurement. The cat
is said to be in superposition, meaning a live cat and a dead cat inhabit
the same volume of space-time ‘experiencing’ both alternatives and
waiting for my measurement. This seems nonsensical, but Copenhagen
quantum folk simply say, “That’s the way it is; the mathematics works, if
you don’t like it, tough. Nature does not have to explain herself.”

Einstein strongly disagreed with this position. He believed the
world is certain and laws must govern radioactive decay and, therefore,
the breaking of the vial and the life and death of the cat. There must be
some, as yet, undiscovered theory. He reasoned as follows: A particle

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