Collapse It To Their Level

Speaking superposition with a non-scientist

We’ve all experienced the moment where the words escape us. There’s no way to predict what words they’ll be or, when they’ll flee. Alright, I understand it with difficult words, and those that we say once in a blue moon. But there appears to be no limit to what gets lost down our internal dictionary drains.

“Could you throw me that…uhh…what the hell is…the yellow thing…the SPONGE!”

However, I’ve also suffered from another form of linguistic inadequacy: When a thought or an idea comes from that place they often like to, one that I’m so excited to share, that I dive right into it. But, just as the words begin to flow, the excitement behind them is quick to turn to disappointment.

I surprise myself with just how far the words leaving my mouth lead me away from what’s in my head. You might assume, that if you’d just more time to think and prepare what to say, that’d solve it. In my experience though, unfortunately, this just isn’t true.

Besides, who the hell has the time nowadays? Now a moments silence in conversation opens the door to just another phone pick-up, topic shift, another speaker or plain old awkwardness. Side note: The last of which I love, personally. Often inducing myself, purposefully.

So then, with no time to mull over every word to say, what did I do? Well, you’re welcome read on. That is, if you've time to spare.

I’ve suffered through many moments of self inflicted disappointment for quite sometime. Often culminating in defeat with the meekly utterance of: “Never mind, it doesn’t matter…” I found my solution to this where it often lies: in the experience of others.

I’m saying that by maintaining a feel for and an idea of the varied backgrounds of those we interact with, we hold the keys to unlocking their understanding of our mind. One example of maintaining such a feel for backgrounds includes the generational differences in entertainment, culture, society and careers.

One ever dwindling pro amongst the many cons of modern ages culture of short form content and virality: it's that you would often hold the ability to effectively transplant your minds eye into another’s. By simply referencing a meme. Although I'm discovering this key fits into fewer locks as time goes on, as algorithms push us farther and farther out.

The key still fits quite frequently, when the meme or the cultural references you reach for, exist before a certain cut-off point. Or they’re so widely known, that if the reference doesn’t land, then its likely you’re speaking to someone who's experiencing their first day on earth. In which case: switch tactics.

In short, you’ll be employing imagery: In the form of another’s own memory.

I’m setting the stage to tell you the story in which I managed to illustrate my understanding of the principle of quantum superposition, to my then 54 year old mother. I must see if she still maintains an idea of what we spoke about. But alas, in that moment she understood what I was talking about. And I hope to leave you, the reader, with the same.

I feel it necessary to mention that my Mum maintains no invested interest in physics. There have been times where I’ve witnessed the formation of a nictitating membrane, live—that third, cloudy looking eyelid of some animals—as I ramble on about my scientific interests. Thankfully, in this story, it wasn't one of those moments.

We were sat in our living room one afternoon enjoying a conversation. It was on one of our typical tangents that I was reminded of the ‘Schrödinger’s Cat’ thought experiment, and she looked at me like I’d two heads. I thought: ‘How lucky am I?’ I do love when a teaching moment happens in my lap.

So, I launch into my rendition of the thought experiment. And as always, disappointment in my ability caught up quick. I’ll get to how I managed shortly. But first, for those that have not tried this experiment themselves, it goes:

That a cat is placed into a box, and with it, a fragment of radioactive material. The fragment gives off, or emits, harmful radiation as it decays. Over time, your certainty of whether the cat remains alive or if it has died, diminishes. It is then possible to say, that there’s a chance the cat is both alive and dead, at the same time.

The only way to know for certain the fate of our cat, is to lift the lid and peek inside. In other words: to observe it. Before we peek inside, when the cat can be thought of as both alive and dead, quantum physicists would say that the cat is existing in ‘superposition.’

As you reach to open the box and lift the lid, to make your observation. You’re effectively measuring the result of this experiment, or ‘collapsing’ the cats fate.

I may have already lost you. And that’s fine, as I lost my mother somewhere in this realm too. Our conversation continued off the back of her obvious observation: “Well, after a long enough time passes the certainty that the cat has died goes up!” Consider this beyond the scope of our today’s thought experiment.

Still, the concept wasn’t completely hitting home with Mum. Quantum physicists say that even they do not fully comprehend the phenomena of their field. I would leave the conversation happy with just a glimpse of an “Aha!” moment on my mothers face. So, I took a new avenue toward ‘Two states existing at once.’

I was on my feet at this point, as the excitement of talking science had lifted me from the chair. My arms outstretched, evidently grasping for the appropriate analogy to use. I was facing out into the garden, toward our Seomra. Where my recently purchased 3D printer lived. This was my “Aha!” moment. This printer can manage speeds up to 600 mm/s! It’s lightning quick. I like to picture particles in superposition to be the same. Probably a little bit faster.

It might sound strange, but I asked Mum to picture herself as a god-like entity. Hang tight, this will land nicely. This entity was all seeing, all knowing. But most importantly she could exist between worlds. At will, she could jump into the ‘in-between’. I likened this to ‘The Upside Down’ from Stranger Things. It was hot at the time.

Then I asked her to sit her new divine-self in front of my 3D printer as it printed a perfectly circular cylinder. Round and round, at 600 mm/s. With a snap of her fingers, she could transport herself to the realm in-between. Where all possibilities existed.

Where she would now witness the printer not just printing clockwise, but simultaneously printing anti-clockwise as well. The same cylindrical print, just in the reverse direction. But only one truth would be possible upon snapping back to our earthly realm. Which? Well, that depends. On what? I don’t think we’re quite sure.

In the case of our printer we understand the possible outcomes: Spin right or spin left. I felt it safer to not muddy the waters with more possibilities. If I had bought myself a resin printer, we’d be speaking in terms of up or down and top or bottom.

Mum could snap her fingers as many times as she liked. While she existed in the in-between, I told her she was capable of witnessing the printer functioning in superposition. But upon returning to an earthly realm, she was collapsing the plausible realities into only one of the two possible: Print-left or print-right.

I remember the culmination of this weird and wonderful tangent being a success. Now…whether my Mum had just given up on understanding me, and pretending she had gotten it was her (effective) method of having me settle down. It felt as if it was a success, so I’ll regard it as such.

This moment planted the seed for now my favourite method of sharing knowledge today. It’s an obvious one. Its so simple, how could anyone miss it? Well, I certainly missed it. I know all about analogies and metaphors. But in my experience of trying to employ them prior to this conversation, I would choose imagery that was never common between myself and those I was sharing it with.

Or too abstract, garnering many parts very quickly. Tripping myself up. As I have stated, this method is becoming harder to nail down. In my experience, trying to find an image or a memory that already exists in another mind is taking more and more attempts. I’m firing off three or four things in a row before I see the spark in their eyes and exclamation of “This I know!”

I’ll leave you with two things. The first being the story told above. The second, just something to keep in mind for those that look to incorporate it. I’ve noticed, and it’s likely you have too, that it is becoming more difficult to share, and discuss information with others, as time passes. The discovery of common ground is more of a challenge than ever before. Or so we’re led to believe.

I think it’s because of this, that we’re more inclined to not even try. Or we’re too quick to give up once we begin. The common ground between us is widening, and as a result the moats are deepening. We’re slowly beginning to inhabit our own, lonely islands.

It holds true, that the ability to publish information online, and to the global stage, has never been so easy, so frictionless. With this ability has come the exponential increase in friction between those we interact with offline.

I’m often finding now, that when engaging in the sharing or discussing information, ideas, concepts, you name it. It’s becoming harder and in turn, less enjoyable. This is the sign that we must double down, and try harder to maintain a common ground between each other. Don’t be afraid by the apparent moat between minds connecting. There are many ways to cross it.

To encourage you: There is one big positive to be found within the effort to push our understandings further afield. It’s that, by requiring several attempts to find a shared or similar experience with someone to get points across, I find myself on the look out for and consumption of a much broader library of knowledge and information. As to ensure that common ground remains actually common!

This manifests in more ways than just consuming more and more, new information. You’ll begin recalling and resurfacing memories and experiences that lay dormant, awaiting discovery again. And lastly, there is another, wonderful thing that can happen in the pursuit of shared understanding too. This doesn’t happen too often for me, but I almost like it more this way, with an element of rarity to it.

It’s that moment you find yourselves in a glorious back-and-forth. As if engaging in a racket sport with shared nostalgia as your ball. There’s many “remember this!” And “Oh yeah! And this!” Passed back and forth. This short game typically culminates in a shared sigh. Which, for me, is followed by the noticing that I’m not so lonely after all.