Schrodinger's Cat & The Universe....Heavy Stuff!!

OK, my cousin and I have this battle going on about what is reality and what is not reality. We are both right and both wrong. We still love to talk about it and have a good laugh at our own expense. I thought I would write a little bit about it, because I find it amusing. I also like the fact that neither of us can prove the other one right or wrong and since the totality of existence is only here for me, I am right and he is wrong. If he has consciousness, which I'm not positive that he or anyone else does, I'm sure he he is right for the sake of his own "movie". And, that's all this life really is. It's just a movie or a ride. It's all for YOU. When you expire, NONE of this stuff that you fret over, care about, love, hate, or whatever will never have mattered an iota. You will be gone, with no way to think back on it, or observe it. It's over. As Hitchens said, the party doesn't end, you just don't get to be there any longer. The next time you get pissed about someone cutting you off in traffic or some little piece of nothing like that, just think how at some point, you will cease to exist. Will getting cut off in traffic mean anything then? So why should it mean anything now?

Alright. I've already blown your mind, haven't I Sherman? The universe is vast.......huge......gigantic.......enormous....gargantuan....ginormous....

Skip that. There is NO word for the size of the universe. There are literally (or, "lit trully" for fans of Parks & Recreation, on NBC, Thursday nights) billions (actually infinite) of galaxies, stars....blah, blah, blah. 

What if, there were no life anywhere? What if there was no conscious life ANYWHERE? Would the universe still exist? I say no. Cuz says yes. 

My logic is this; in our observable solar system, we have not found conscious life. So, let's just say that's true. If life on earth were suddenly extinct, would this solar system matter as a tangible entity? I say no. If there is nothing to observe it.... If there is nothing to consider it..... If there is nothing to try to make sense of it.... it doesn't exist. Not in any sort of practical reality. If nothing can consider it on any level, it's not there.

Now, my cousin, (we'll call him "Chris") says, of course, it would still be there physically. Now, yes, I know that to be true. But it's not REALLY there, right? No living thing can consider it in any way at all. There is nothing that can claim to look at it, hear it, smell it, taste it, live on it.....nothing at all. No way at all to know it's there, because there is nothing to know that it knows nothing. Something can only exist if there is something else that can consider it in some way. 

Say we put a cat in a sound proof box that we can't see into (there's a name for this theory....Schrodinger's Cat) with a poison tablet and close the lid. Is the cat dead or alive? We don't know. So, the cat is both alive AND dead. It has not been observed, so no matter what has happened in the box, whether the cat has eaten the poison or not, it hasn't really happened, because it's not been observed.

Walla......up yours "Chris"!!!

You can respond on your own blog. Oh, that's right, you don't have a blog. Therefore, if no one can observe your response, it must not exist. 

I win!!

It's confusing and crazy, but I love quantum theories!!!

Here we go, droppin' science

droppin' it all over

Like ridin' around town

drivin' a Range Rover

Sound of Science--Beastie Boys

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Star Wars: Phantom Menace in 3-D Sucks

It's high time I said something about another movie. This time, I'm going to tackle the fourth Star Wars film, which is really the first. Sure, it's been out on VHS and DVD for years, and most recently on Blu Ray, but this time it's different. You can go to the theater and see it in 3-D. But, I'll give you a tip; you can look at a piece of shit film as it was inteneded or you can see a piece of shit film in 3-D, either way, it's still a piece of shit. And this is from a Star Wars lover. 

I wanted to like Phantom Menace, I really did. There are parts of it I do enjoy, but there are not very many times where I feel like it fits well with the original trilogy. Why have prequels if you have to MAKE it all fit together and leave a bunch of questions and half assed reasons for things to happen later down the line? Oh..I know...money. 

First off, I have no idea how this thing is going to look in 3-D, but it really doesn't matter. It's a sorry piece of the Star Wars saga and unless he goes back and re-edits little Vader and Jar Jar, I have no interest in plopping down more money on George Lucas' table. They are his films. He can do as he pleases. But, if you have no interest in improving on your art (if it can be called that at all, I would say it's not), why wouldn't you just leave it alone. Oh...I know...again...money. 

When we finally get around to the original trilogy being released in 3-D, it will be the third time these movies have gotten a theater release. I support that, just to give new fans a shot at seeing them on a big screen. It doesn't mean I support all the changes or the 3-D concept though. For what it's worth, I'll cave in and say that the Phantom Menace is really just a movie for kids and making toys and not for big time science fiction fans. I'm not a big sci-fi guy, but I'm appreciating the genre a little more as I get older. I don't suppose I can say anything about this film that I haven't before. It's got a solid 45 minutes in it and that's about all. 

For the record, I will see films 3,4,5, and 6 in 3-D, should I be blessed to live that long. Those are the films that I think stay truest to form from the original Star Wars. George Lucas has done nothing but play around with Star Wars for decades. I wish he'd stop and just let them be what they are. Or maybe, we (critical a-holes) should just shut up and let him do what he will. They are his films. They are his legacy. Maybe I just don't want to be reminded that a couple of these films exist?

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