Way back at the beginning of modern quantum physics, the German physicist, Schrödinger came up with an analogy to demonstrate the necessity of observation to collapse a probability wave function. For example, that light is potentially either a wave or a particle, and only becomes one or the other when you test for either of the properties. But until you test for it, it is potentially either one.
The analogy that Schrödinger used was that if you have a cat locked in a box with a poison gas canister that could go off at any time,* (but at a totally unpredictable probability for the time frame involved) so that you couldn’t tell if the cat was alive or dead until you opened the box; then theoretically, the cat would be both alive and dead until you actually opened the box to observe it.** For a more complete explanation, check out this site. (But careful when you open the bag, if you do it wrong, you’ll be responsible for the death of a fictitious cat.)
Anyways, I would like to extend this theory from the useless world of quantum physics, to the more important field of high finance. Namely, to my collection of high-payout Instant Lotto tickets. I have one that has a grand prize of $2,000,000 (two million dollars)! So, by using Schrödinger’s Cat Theory, I am potentially a millionaire. Until I actually scratch off the ticket, there is no way to know if I am rich, or I wasted $10. And since I can buy many of these tickets, I am potentially a multi-millionaire.
So the question I would like to put out there is; are there any potentially beautiful women*** out there that would like to date a potential multi-millionaire?
* If we were talking about Evil Glenn, the cat would be a puppy, the box would be a blender, and the timer would be a large button that Evil Glenn would be pressing constantly. Which is why we don’t use his ideas to explain quantum physics.
** What actually happens is you get a really annoyed cat that claws your face half the time you open the box, and a lawsuit from P.E.T.A the rest of the time.
*** Remember, all women are potentially beautiful until you take them out of the box.
I think you're going to get potentially smacked upside the head for that last line :-)
Posted by: Harvey at February 5, 2005 03:07 PMTell me again about why you're supposed to let them out of the box? (The women, not the cats).
Posted by: Ogre at February 6, 2005 09:45 AM"*** Remember, all women are potentially beautiful until you take them out of the box."
Or sober up.