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A Closer Look at the Experiment

The thought experiment of Schrödinger's cat originated in 1935 and was proposed by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who wanted to illustrate the puzzling nature of quantum mechanics.

The origin of this thought experiment can actually be traced back to the double-slit experiment. There, individual electrons are shot one by one through two slits. They do not behave like tiny particles that simply pass through one slit, but like waves that pass through both slits at the same time, creating an interference pattern that only disappears when you measure which slit the electron actually went through.

Similarly, Schrödinger imagined a scenario in which a cat is placed inside an opaque box. Inside this box, there is a mechanism that releases poison if an atom decays, or does nothing if it doesn’t. According to quantum mechanics, the atom exists in a superposition state, meaning it is both decayed and not decayed at the same time. The cat is therefore simultaneously dead and alive, at least until we open the box and observe what happens. Only when we observe the system does it collapse into a single, definite state. This interpretation is known as the Copenhagen interpretation.

What Does This Tell Us About Reality?

Perhaps you've heard of the Many-Worlds Theory, an alternative interpretation of quantum mechanics that explains things in a slightly different way. I've written an short article about it before. This theory, proposed in the 1950s by Hugh Everett, suggests that with each quantum measurement, the universe splits into different branches, where every possible outcome is realized in a separate universe.

In the case of Schrödinger's cat, this means that when you open the box, the universe splits. In one universe the cat is alive, in another it's dead. Both versions exist in parallel, but since we only live in one of these many possible universes, we perceive only one of these realities as "true". This theory suggests there could be countless parallel universes where every possible outcome of every quantum event actually happens.

Closing Words

Regardless of whether the Copenhagen interpretation or the many-worlds interpretation is correct, we only find out which reality is true for us when we "open the box". This can be applied to many things in our lives. For example, we often only know whether a new job, a project or even a new romance will have the desired outcome when we take the step. So open the box.