Killing cats for Schrodinger (Zen, physics)

Schrödinger's cat: A thought experiment in quantum mechanics

(TED-Ed) Oct. 14, 2014: View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/schrodinger... Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, posed this famous question: "If you put a cat in a sealed box with a [radioactive] device that has a 50% chance of killing the cat in the next hour, what will be the state of the cat when that time is up? Chad Orzel investigates this thought experiment. Lesson by Chad Orzel. Animation by Agota Vegso.

I misunderstood Schrödinger's cat thought experiment for years (Now, I finally get it!)

When will cat lovers strike back?

(FloatHeadPhysics) Why is Schrödinger's cat both dead and alive? It's not! This video looks at what quantum superposition is (and is not). How many mental cats must be mutilated and die in these gruesome thought experiments, which lead to real-life desensitization, vivisection (painful experiments and mutilation of living animals, just as dissection is the cutting up of dead ones), and the "sacrificing" (a euphemism for execution of living subjects after an experiment is concluded and every participant must be murdered to clean up). Though scientists go home and pet their spouse's kitties, at work, dressed in white (lab coats) like a priestly class, they callously commit excruciating atrocities in the name of research and their religion, Science (Scientism).

This is not limited to science. There is a shocking Japanese Buddhist koan (riddle, paradox, lit. "case") about a cat.

Nansen Kills the Cat: a vintage koan

Roshi Philip Kapleau (Zen Bow | Winter 2018, Vol. XL, No. 4, a vintage koan commentary by the Rochester Zen Center’s late founder) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

(Shōkei Andreas Praefcke/Wiki)

Mumonkan Number 14: THE CASE: Once the monks of the Western and Eastern Halls were arguing about a cat. Nansen, holding up the cat, said, “You monks, if you can say a word of Zen, I will spare the cat. Otherwise, I will kill it!”

No one could answer, so Nansen sliced the cat in two.

That evening, when Joshu returned, Nansen told him of the incident. Joshu thereupon took off his sandal, put it on his head, and walked off.

Nansen said, “If you had been there, the cat would have been saved!”

Only riddles and koans. No answers anywhere!

THE COMMENTARY: Just say, what is the real meaning of Joshu’s putting his sandal on his head? If you can give a turning word on this point, you will see that Nansen’s action was not in vain. But if not, beware!

THE VERSE: Had Joshu only been there, he would have taken charge. He would have snatched away the sword, and Nansen would have begged for his life. The two protagonists of this koan, Nansen and Joshu, are two of the great masters in Zen.

Nansen was the teacher of Joshu (Chinese Zhaozhou). Nansen (Chinese Nanchuan) in turn was a disciple of the great Baso (Chinese Mazu).

Nansen’s dates are 748 to 835. He had his head shaved at the age of 9, and at 30 took full ordination vows and devoted himself to Buddhist study for several years.

Finally, he knocked on the door of Zen Master Baso and “forgot all that he had previously learned.” At 47, in the year 795, Nansen built with his own hands a retreat hut on Mount Nansen, from which he took his name.

One of his disciples was the governor of the province, and there’s an intriguing mondo between the two. After the governor had had dokusan with Nansen, Nansen said to him, “When you return to your office in the city, how will you rule the people?”

The answer was, “I will use wisdom to govern them.”

Nansen said, “In that case, every last one of them will suffer.”

What we see here is a sense of self-intentionality which, on the face of it, seems to be a very fine thing: to endeavor to govern with wisdom, compassion. But once you talk about it, it’s already gone. You’re already assured that there won’t be any wisdom or compassion.

You don’t need to set about to govern with wisdom or compassion if you just govern fully, put yourself wholly into any activity: nothing held back, without any notions of being wise or being this or being that. The action will be a true action.

We all have this compassion and innate wisdom, this prajna wisdom, that will emerge once we remove the obstacles to its functioning. More: Rochester Zen Center (rzc.org)

CHAPTERS

• 
  00:00 The big misconception about Schrödinger's cat
• 02:24 A deep perspective on the electron double slit experiment
• 09:12 An inconceivable tool of the 21st century
• 10:48 What is quantum superposition (not)?
• 12:52 Are probability waves real?
• 14:14 Quantum superposition and measurement
• 16:42 Electron spin quantum superposition
• 17:37 The real meaning of Schrödinger's cat!
• 18:54 How quantum superposition gives us life [because the covalent bonds to form H20 are in superposition and not otherwise interacting]

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• Float Head (FloatHeadPhysics, YouTube, Aug. 23, 2024); Sheldon S., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly