Schroedinger's fetus - posted at 10:50

I could use something a little lighthearted right about now, so here's some Amusing Geekery:

A couple of weeks before the birth of his second daughter, I asked my previously featured co-worker what name they had selected for her.

"I can't tell you! It'll jinx us!"

"Jinx you?"

"Yeah, if we tell you the girl's name, she's come out a boy!"

I laughed, but a couple of days ago I was thinking about it again.

"Hmmm," I thought, "I didn't think that pregnancy was a model for Schroedinger's Cat!"

If you're not familiar with this unfortunate feline, here's a brief introduction to the famous model for quantum physics: a cat is sharing a box with some tenuously-contained deadly gas (cyanide, for example). This release of this gas is dependent upon a completely random and unpredictable event (such as nuclear decay of a radioactive isotope). You have no way of knowing whether or not the gas has been released, therefore you have no way of knowing whether the cat is alive or dead. Until you open the box and take a look (analogous to taking a measurement of a system) thereby forcing one of the states to be true, the cat is actually 50% alive, 50% dead.

So what my co-worker was telling me was that the fetus was 50% girl, 50% boy, until such a time that a measurement was made (a measurement being birth or revelation of the selected name), and the wave function would collapse on a specific gender. Who knew that such rapid changes could happen to your fetus' biology in utero -- especially so late in the term?

I guess you learn something new every day.

mrtl commented:

There's more to it than that, though. There's also our fickleness (we'd change the name at the drop of a hat with just cause, and we'd feel bad if someone gifted us with something personalized), not to mention the unsolicited comments/judgments about the name.

Please don't redo your equation to include these factors, though. My head is already spinning reading the above.

Stacey commented:

I can definitely see the practicality in being mum about the name until it's all official -- after all, you can still be proud of the fact that you guys had at least already chosen a name. Hell, I was known as TK for the first two weeks of life -- yes, that's short for "The Kid."

The whole post is in existence because 1) I am a huge nerd, and 2) because I needed a laugh, and for some reason quantum physics is always really good for providing that if you look at it the right way. Who ever knew that zombies were applicable to this branch of science?

Pablo commented:

My cat is named Schroedinger!

As for zombies in science... it seems to me MOST scientists are zombified at one point or another in their careers.

Glad to see that your domain is launched!
- pablo

mrtl commented:

Ok, Stacey. Your math brain scares me.

Safe travels.

Jitterbean Girl commented:

Y'know, Pablo, I'm not generally a cat fan, but I have a feeling that I could tremendously adore your aptly named feline :)