Dead or Alive

[neufer]

[Chris Peterson]

[Ann]

Hugely interesting, Art! Thanks!

(Heck - now I might miss my train because I couldn't tear myself from this debate in the morning!)

Ann

[Beyond]

[Ann]

I guess Chris meant Shrödinger's Cat, Beyond. It is a thought experiment about a cat which is locked inside a container of some sort, with no contact with the outside. Similarly, the outside has no contact with the cat. There is a sort of radioactive element in the container with the cat. The radioactive element may or may not decay and release something that will kill the cat.

(I'm not sure I summarized the thought experiment correctly, but I didn't have the energy to read about it. It is something like that.)

Okay, here goes. After a while, when the cat has been inside the container for a while, we can't know if it is dead or alive, because we can't know if the radioactive element has decayed and killed the cat or not. Only when we open the container and take a look will it possible for us to know.

But the clincher, I think, is this. While the cat is in the container and we can't know if it is dead or alive, it can be argued that it is both dead and alive at the same time. Only when we open the container will the cat be forced to "choose" whether it is dead or alive.

I might add that I strongly dislike thought experiments about torturing cats by locking them inside containers where they might very well be killed! Why not Shrödinger's Dog?

But I think, although I can't know, that Chris is suggesting that Titan is both dead and alive - that is, it is the home of life forms and it is not the home of life forms at the same time - and that we must regard it as both inhabited and not inhabited until we have actually gone there and had a look for ourselves.

Ann