A note from Dan Hardway:
24 December, 2025
Alan,
You had expressed interest in anything I have written. I was looking through some old digital files for an old research file when I came across an intriguing story. As I read it, the digital file is dated in 2010, I wondered where I’d found it. I liked it. Enjoyed reading it. As I read it, I began to think that maybe I had written it, but from my current age and Lyme addled condition, I couldn’t remember or say for sure that I had. So, I did what any reasonable man would do, I began to google search for different sentences from the story. And Google couldn’t find any files or anything on the intrusive net that matched the lines I was feeding it. And as I got to the end of the story I was pretty sure, based on the twist at the end, that I wrote it. So, here it is to see if you enjoy it. I may have written it. Then again, maybe not. I think its well written and coherent. I wonder if I could ever have been such.
Dan
Kitty and Tom Wonder Aloud
Tom: “Trapped in the box of quantum time, aren’t we all Schrodinger’s cat?”
Kitty: “I was alive last time someone checked.”
Tom: “Kitty, if we are all cats IN the box, who opened the box and checked? And how did you
know that the box had been opened? And, if you weren’t the person who opened the box, how do
you know that the opener found you alive?”
know that the box had been opened? And, if you weren’t the person who opened the box, how do
you know that the opener found you alive?”
Kitty: “I guess I’d have a 50% chance of being alive and therefore seeing who was opening my
box, right?”
box, right?”
Tom: “Nope. According to Schrodinger that’s not the way the box works. The cat exists
simultaneously both dead and alive. It’s state is not determined until it is observed by an
Observer. When observed, it will then resolve into one of the two states, but the odds are not
necessarily 50/50. Observation by a like thing, i.e., another cat in the box, does not force the
observed cat into the resolution of its status. It is only when the box is opened by an outside
observer that the cat’s status is resolved. But, the observed cat may not even be aware that the
box has been opened or that it has been observed. So, regardless of the odds, even if your box has
been opened and you have been observed and you are still alive, you may not even know that the
box was opened, let alone see who opened it. Taking this a step further, might we not say that the
box is opened and an observation is made every time one of the cats dies? But yet who has seen
the Box Opening Observer (BOO for short)? But, since we are all in the box, both those dead and
alive by our observation, are, actually under Schrodinger’s idea, both still simultaneously still
dead and alive. In our limited experience every time the BOO has ever opened the box (with
maybe one exception?) a cat’s status has been resolved in favor of death (unless we were to
consider birth as the BOO observing the cat to life, but that’s a rabbit trail we shall not run here
and now). But who is to say that it will always be so? That it will always be the case that when
the BOO opens the box that a cat within the box will be perceived by its co-cats to die. Might it
not be, considering the flexibility of quantum mechanics, that “eventually” (to the extent that
time concepts can apply outside the box of quantum time) when the BOO opens the box, that the
cat’s inside discover that rather than a perceived living cat dying, that the perceived dead cats
have actually resolved their states to life? Maybe when that happens, the BOO will leave the lid
off.”
simultaneously both dead and alive. It’s state is not determined until it is observed by an
Observer. When observed, it will then resolve into one of the two states, but the odds are not
necessarily 50/50. Observation by a like thing, i.e., another cat in the box, does not force the
observed cat into the resolution of its status. It is only when the box is opened by an outside
observer that the cat’s status is resolved. But, the observed cat may not even be aware that the
box has been opened or that it has been observed. So, regardless of the odds, even if your box has
been opened and you have been observed and you are still alive, you may not even know that the
box was opened, let alone see who opened it. Taking this a step further, might we not say that the
box is opened and an observation is made every time one of the cats dies? But yet who has seen
the Box Opening Observer (BOO for short)? But, since we are all in the box, both those dead and
alive by our observation, are, actually under Schrodinger’s idea, both still simultaneously still
dead and alive. In our limited experience every time the BOO has ever opened the box (with
maybe one exception?) a cat’s status has been resolved in favor of death (unless we were to
consider birth as the BOO observing the cat to life, but that’s a rabbit trail we shall not run here
and now). But who is to say that it will always be so? That it will always be the case that when
the BOO opens the box that a cat within the box will be perceived by its co-cats to die. Might it
not be, considering the flexibility of quantum mechanics, that “eventually” (to the extent that
time concepts can apply outside the box of quantum time) when the BOO opens the box, that the
cat’s inside discover that rather than a perceived living cat dying, that the perceived dead cats
have actually resolved their states to life? Maybe when that happens, the BOO will leave the lid
off.”
Kitty: “But does the cat really exist in both states? How can one know without observation? And
observation may or may not change the thing being observed. According to Heisenberg’s
principle, it does, of course….”
observation may or may not change the thing being observed. According to Heisenberg’s
principle, it does, of course….”
Tom: “And that raises a whole ‘nother realm for speculation: When the BOO opens the lid and
observes you, how do you change other than a change of state?”
observes you, how do you change other than a change of state?”
Kitty: “Did the opening of the box move me physically a hair left or right? There are other ways
to change….”
to change….”
Tom: “Ah, but that’s the point Kitty, can we even know if we are changed, let alone how? Just as
a general proposition if one cat dies every time the box opens, isn’t it inevitable that, even if
nothing else changes all the cats, that one death does?”
a general proposition if one cat dies every time the box opens, isn’t it inevitable that, even if
nothing else changes all the cats, that one death does?”
Kitty: “I don’t know!!”
Tom: “Neither do I. But I suspect that it does.”
Kitty: “And I suspect you are right. How cool – this has always been one of those side interests of
mine..!”
mine..!”
Tom: “St. Silouan the Athonite taught that all of humanity is a single essence and that each
person is a hypostatic expression of that unified essence and, hence, anything that happens to any
human happens to all. Maybe the same applies to cats in the box.”
person is a hypostatic expression of that unified essence and, hence, anything that happens to any
human happens to all. Maybe the same applies to cats in the box.”
Kitty: “I think that is true. That’s why we have to treat each other with more respect – we’re all
part of us.”
part of us.”
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