Schrödinger's Cat - Joke Backfired In My Nextdoor Group

[barry1010]

Somebody (not me) posted this in my group

WARNING. If a Mr. Schrodinger offers to sell you a cat, don't buy it. I bought one from him and honestly, I couldn't tell if it was alive or dead.

So far 15 people have urged him to contact the RSPCA, call the police or both.   More have reported him to the moderators for distressing content.

I'm finding the reactions far funnier than the joke - but despair somewhat at the lack of knowledge.  The people in my group or mostly 35+ (many 60+) so it's not a reflection of today's standard of education.

Anyway - did the joke hit your funny bone?

[-SharonA-]

Who is Mr Schrodinger??

 

[barry1010]

The paragraphs haven't worked in my post, sorry if it is confused.

He was a physist who got in to a debate with Albert Einstein about a hypothetical cat 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat

[DTCwordfan]

I'm in a  state of superposition over this one, Barry.

At Uni, we had entertainment at 5pm for three evenings a week with the Philosophy lecture for 1st years. René Descartes - 'Does this exist or is it a figment of your imagination?' 'Does the cat exist or is it a figment of your imagination?'

The Prof went on to reference a book for reading, one by that wonderfully batty Irish pjilosopher, GEM Anscombe and concerning René's 'Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy'. The Prof added, "I don't know whether she is alive or dead...."

 

 

[Old_Geezer]

Hardly a rib tickler, but ok I guess.

[barry1010]

Does a falling tree make a noise if nobody is there to hear it?  Apparently not.

I think I am glad that I did not study philosophy, it would fry my brain. I had enough problems with long division. 

[Patsy33]

😄

[DTCwordfan]

Having said what I did above, I know where you are coming from....

The Cornish Food store in Truro has some fun staff and I told the youngest one on butchery sunny Dave's joke about Sir Douglas Bader, asking him if he had heard of the famous pilot.

He replied in the negative, his elder partner also rather incredulous....

This was Dave's joke....

The great airman was giving a talk at an upmarket girl’s school, I added Cheltenham Ladies College, about his time as a pilot in the Second World War.

“So there were two of the Fockkers behind me, three Fockkers to my right, another Fockker on the left,” he told the audience.

The headmistress went pale and interjected:

“Ladies, the Fokker was a German aircraft.”

Sir Douglas replied:

“That may be, Madam, but these Fockkers were in Messerschmitts.”

[wolf63]

You will find that most animal-related videos have some strange reactions.  People are strange.

I thought the joke was amusing.

 

[ToraToraTora]

barry if you locked some of these people in a room with a book on Quantum mechanics then until you open the door they can be said to be familiar and not familiar with the analogy at the same time.

[DTCwordfan]

I suspect that Sir Douglas would have classified them as not being alive but dead and somewhere in La Manche, a geographical term René probably have heard of.

[Peter Pedant]

Who is Mr Schrodinger ?

Is this a wind up ? I think it is a - - -  toss of the coin  ( I thought toss up, was too obscene)(*)

 

that it was a wind up or not. oops - Ynnie will be after me

[Togo]

Is this thread here or not? I can find it when I don't want to.

[Peter Pedant]

er perhaps they were taking it ere too seriously. when I saw it in the box I cdnt tell if it WERE alive or dead,

and got a bit of shock when I opened it....

and er perhaps they were confusing it with the norweigan blue joke

[Peter Pedant]

I can find it when I don't want to.

inspired prose

[Togo]

//Anyway - did the joke hit your funny bone?//

No but the Pavlov's dog one rings a bell. 

[Canary42]

Prior to taking an OU Degree at the age of 35, I wouldn't have had a clue about Schrodinger's Cat, so the widespread unawareness does not surprise me. 

[DTCwordfan]

Togo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame did that for Descartes when the Hunchback fell out of the tower.....

[rowanwitch]

Douglas Bader opened my senior school,( really did, I believe he was a friend of the headmaster who was also a decorated pilot from WW2)  some right Fokkers there too. 

 

[pastafreak]

I've heard of Schrodinger's cat...but never really knew the details of the experiment it refers to.

I attempted an OU philosophy course many years ago. I could not quite get my head around it.

[Old_Geezer]

I'm sure you'll find many vids on YouTube that can explain it to you.