James Explains Schrödinger’s Cat Amongst Other Things

Hello and welcome back to ‘James Explains’, the bit of my blog where I explain things that other people claim to want to know more about, but possibly don’t really want to know about.

Pete, who previously asked about my name and ‘the point’ and the financial implications of Brexit and who is still from the UK but somewhere different in the UK to me asks:

When will we ever learn?

At first I thought this was a trick question Pete, because it seems abundantly clear that we will never learn. But after some research I can confirm that we will, in fact, learn today. And tomorrow. And we also learned yesterday. Because according to conventional wisdom, we learn something new every day and also every day is a school day. Except weekends of course. And the various school holidays throughout the year.

They aren’t school days.

They aren’t school days at all.

But all the others are.

Jay who previously asked about The Godfather movies and is still from the USA asks:

Will you please proclaim something about Jammy Dodgers?

I will Jay. And I’ll also forgive your minor spelling error, for you aren’t from these shores and therefore can’t possibly know the huge cultural significance the noble Jammie Dodger holds for all of us Brits. It is, quite simply, the greatest biscuit ever invented. Not to be confused with supermarket ‘own brand’ Jam Rings, which are nowhere near as good, the Jammie Dodger is a jam and shortbread combination that is beyond compare. They do come in a variety of flavours these days, but there is no need to ever deviate from the flag-ship flavour of raspberry in my humble opinion.

Through my ‘research’ for this particular question I also discovered that Jammie Dodgers are currently manufactured in my homeland of Wales, which just adds to their awesomeness. Also, apparently 40% of them are consumed by adults. I suspect, though, that I account for a significant proportion of that figure.

Bryntin from the UK but somewhere different in the UK to me and Pete asks:

James, my son asked me a question recently, I blogged about it but actually had no answer for him.

He said ‘Dad, you know the film The Matrix right?’ Yes I did.

He said ‘When Neo is offered a blue and a red pill, right?’ Yes I did.

He said ‘What would happen if Neo took both pills from Morpheus, stuffed one up each nostril and sniffed really hard?’

To be honest James, I was stumped. So I’m asking you, for him.

Well, Bryntin’s son, that is a question and no mistake. Of course by taking the red pill Neo is able to escape the false world of the Matrix and live in the relative freedom but harsher existence of the real world. Had he taken the blue pill he would have remained blissfully unaware of the Matrix while continuing to live within said Matrix. By shoving both tablets up his nose, all we can really establish is that he would have subsequently suffered from severe sinus problems. But whether those sinus problems would have been in the real world or the Matrix is harder to be certain of. But it wouldn’t have much mattered because he would have needed medical attention in either reality.

These Were Humans from planet Earth asks

Do you think Schrodinger was probably more of a dog person… or could he only afford a small box?

Great question. I looked up Schrödinger’s cat as a way of cleverly answering this question and realised that although I thought I did understand it, it’s actually way more complicated than I thought it would be. But it’s fairly clear that it could apply to dogs as well as cats, so one must conclude that either Schrödinger really did hate cats, or that box-size was actually relevant. As the box itself is made of steel, I’d imagine that cost does come into play, but there are many small dogs, so it can’t just be about the size of the box he could afford. Therefore it’s safe to assume, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Schrödinger was indeed a dog person.

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