# Schrodinger's Cat in the Funnies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schrodingers-cat-in-the-funnies/323352 "2005-09-25T17:51:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schrodingers-cat-in-the-funnies/323352/1 "2005-09-25T17:51:23Z")
There are frequent references on this board to Schrodinger’s Cat, but I have to say I’ve never seen it in the comics, before today. For those of you who didn’t see it in today’s paper, here’s a [link](http://www.comicspage.com/brewster/brewster.html) I thought the punchline was particularly good. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schrodingers-cat-in-the-funnies/323352/2 "2005-09-25T18:12:53Z")
Heeheeheehee. I’ve always thought that is exactly what I would do, were I the cat (and alive) when the box was opened. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schrodingers-cat-in-the-funnies/323352/3 "2005-09-25T19:33:32Z")
I agree about the punchline. It’s great! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schrodingers-cat-in-the-funnies/323352/4 "2005-09-25T20:07:16Z")
Reminds me of a _Futurama_ episode where a horse race was so close, it was declared a quantum finish and had to be examined with an electron microscope. Professor Farnsworth: No fair! You changed the results by measuring them! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schrodingers-cat-in-the-funnies/323352/5 "2005-09-25T20:46:14Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Reminds me of a _Futurama_ episode where a horse race was so close, it was declared a quantum finish and had to be examined with an electron microscope. > > Professor Farnsworth: No fair! You changed the results by measuring them! Gotta love geek humor. It’s funny AND obscure! Woohoo! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schrodingers-cat-in-the-funnies/323352/6 "2005-09-25T21:21:23Z")
Maybe not the funnies, but the other day I just rewatched the first episode of the third season of _Six Feet Under_, where Nate has dream-sequence-under-the-knife, showing a number of alternate fates for him. David showing flashcards to an obviously brain-damaged Nate. Trying to get him to say “Cat.” Watching the soap opera with Claire: > [@](#): > > SOAP LADY: That was Dr. Shrödinger. Kitty didn’t make it. > SOAP MAN: The universe has split in two. > SOAP LADY: _Two?_ More like two billion. What’s going to happen to us? > SOAP MAN: We always end up in the universe in which we exist. Remember Copenhagen? > > NATE: Shit, I’ve seen this one before. Then the end of the sequence, with “ghost” Nate observing his own funeral with his late father, standing in front of his closed casket: > [@](#): > > NATE: Am I alive, or am I dead? > MR. FISHER: Yes. …and no. Go ahead! Open the box! > > _(Nate opens the casket at the screen dissolves to white.)_ Then there are lots of subtler references later, like Nate looking a little unsettled as his friends emphatically tell their toddler to “Put the kitty down!” (An ambiguous phrase…) Sure, the Schrodinger’s cat problem has probably penetrated pop consciousness more than more than any other bit o’ physics, but on a non-geek drama like _Six Feet Under_, I’ll bet a significant portion of viewers took it as just generally weird. (I’m glad they didn’t dirty it up with awkward exposition. Screw the LCD.)