Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Red Sox Fans: Schrödinger's Cat Has Left The Building

The Cat
Here is a description of the Schrödinger's cat experiment: "a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitor detects radioactivity (i.e., a single atom decaying), the flask is shattered, releasing the poison that kills the cat. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead." This is a long way of saying that while some might feel the Red Sox are both alive (winners of six out of their last ten and "just" 12.5 games out of a Wild Card spot) and dead (way the heck back in the Division and Wild Card with just 37 games left to play), the fact is the season is indeed over. There is no Schrödinger's cat paradox—the furry creature has left the box (and the building). The Red Sox season is effectively ended. Bring on 2016.