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Schrödinger's Cat In Popular Culture
Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as absurdities in the views that other physicists had about quantum mechanics (ideas later labeled the Copenhagen interpretation), by applying them not to microscopic objects but to everyday ones. The thought experiment presents a cat that might be alive or dead, depending on an earlier random event. In the course of developing this experiment, he coined the term ''Verschränkung'' ( entanglement). According to historian of science Robert P. Crease, Schrödinger's thought experiment did not become widely known until the 1970s. In 1972 Ursula K. Le Guin learned about it while reading about quantum mechanics for her novel The Dispossessed; Crease credits her 1974 short story "Schrödinger's Cat" with bringing the concept into popular culture. Other science-fiction writers soon picked it up, often using it in a humorous vei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Analog Science Fiction And Fact
''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William Clayton (publisher), William Clayton, and edited by Harry Bates (author), Harry Bates. Clayton went bankrupt in 1933 and the magazine was sold to Street & Smith. The new editor was F. Orlin Tremaine, who soon made ''Astounding'' the leading magazine in the nascent pulp science fiction field, publishing well-regarded stories such as Jack Williamson's ''Legion of Space Series, Legion of Space'' and John W. Campbell's Twilight (Campbell short story), "Twilight". At the end of 1937, Campbell took over editorial duties under Tremaine's supervision, and the following year Tremaine was let go, giving Campbell more independence. Over the next few years Campbell published many stories that became classics in the field, including Isaac Asimov's Found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction Themes
The following is a list of articles about recurring theme (narrative), themes in science fiction. Overarching themes *First contact (science fiction), First contact with aliens *Artificial intelligence in fiction, Artificial intelligence **Machine rule/Cybernetic revolt/AI takeover *Extraterrestrials in fiction *End of humanity: Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction *The future **Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction: Apocalypses or worldwide disasters and Post-apocalypse, new societies that develop after the event *History **Alternate history (fiction), Alternate history **Scientific prediction of the future (e.g. Psychohistory (fictional), psychohistory) *Human fears: List of science fiction horror films *Language **Alien languages (e.g. Klingon language, Klingon, Hutt (Star Wars), Huttese) **The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis (e.g. ''Babel 17'', ''The Languages of Pao'') **Universal translators (e.g. Babel fish) *Military science fiction, Military/conflicts **Interstellar wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiction About Physics
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with fact, history, or plausibility. In a traditional narrow sense, fiction refers to written narratives in prose often specifically novels, novellas, and short stories. More broadly, however, fiction encompasses imaginary narratives expressed in any Media (communication), medium, including not just writings but also drama, live theatrical performances, films, television programs, radio dramas, comics, role-playing games, and video games. Definition and theory Typically, the fictionality of a work is publicly expressed, so the audience expects a work of fiction to deviate to a greater or lesser degree from the real world, rather than presenting for instance only factually accurate portrayals or character (arts), characters who are actual people. Because fiction is generally underst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics
An interpretation of quantum mechanics is an attempt to explain how the mathematical theory of quantum mechanics might correspond to experienced reality. Quantum mechanics has held up to rigorous and extremely precise tests in an extraordinarily broad range of experiments. However, there exist a number of contending schools of thought over their interpretation. These views on interpretation differ on such fundamental questions as whether quantum mechanics is determinism, deterministic or stochastic, Principle_of_locality, local or Quantum_nonlocality, non-local, which elements of quantum mechanics can be considered real, and what the nature of measurement in quantum mechanics, measurement is, among other matters. While some variation of the Copenhagen interpretation is commonly presented in textbooks, many other interpretations have been developed. Despite nearly a century of debate and experiment, no consensus has been reached among physicists and Philosophy of physics, philosophe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy
The ''Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy'' is a trilogy of novels by American writer Robert Anton Wilson consisting of ''Schrödinger's Cat: The Universe Next Door'' (1979), ''Schrödinger's Cat II: The Trick Top Hat'' (1980), and ''Schrödinger's Cat III: The Homing Pigeons'' (1981), each illustrating a different interpretation of quantum physics. They were collected into an omnibus edition in 1988. Wilson is also co-author of ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy'' (1975), and ''Schrödinger's Cat'' is a sequel of sorts, re-using several of the same characters and carrying on many of the themes of the earlier work. The name Schrödinger's Cat comes from a thought experiment in quantum mechanics. The first book, ''The Universe Next Door'', takes place in different universes in accord with the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics; in the second, ''The Trick Top Hat'', characters are unknowingly connected through non-locality, i.e., having once crossed paths they are joined in quantum en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American writer, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson helped publicize Discordianism through his writings and interviews. In 1999 he described his work as an "attempt to break down conditioned associations, to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models or maps, and no one model elevated to the truth". Wilson's goal was "to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone but agnosticism about everything." In addition to writing several science-fiction novels, Wilson also wrote non-fiction books on extrasensory perception, mental telepathy, metaphysics, paranormal experiences, conspiracy theory, sex, drugs, and what Wilson called " quantum psychology". Following a career in journalism and as an editor, notably for ''Playboy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudy Rucker
Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (; born March 22, 1946) is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which (''Software (novel), Software'' and ''Wetware (novel), Wetware'') both won Philip K. Dick Awards. He edited the science fiction webzine ''Flurb'' until its closure in 2014. Early life Rucker was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, son of Embry Cobb Rucker Sr (October 1, 1914 - August 1, 1994), who ran a small furniture-manufacture company and later became an Episcopal priest and community activist, and Marianne (née von Bitter). The Rucker family were of Huguenot descent. Through his mother, he is a great-great-great-grandson of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Rucker attended St. Xavier High School, Louisville, Kentucky, St. Xavier High School before earning a Bachelor of Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omni (magazine)
''Omni'' was a science and science fiction magazine published for domestic American and UK markets. It contained articles on science, parapsychology, and short works of science fiction and fantasy. It was published as a print version between October 1978 and 1995. The first ''Omni'' e-magazine was published on CompuServe in 1986 and the magazine switched to a purely online presence in 1996. It ceased publication abruptly in late 1997, following the death of co-founder Kathy Keeton; activity on the magazine's website ended the following April. History Concept ''Omni'' was founded by Kathy Keeton and her long-time collaborator and future husband Bob Guccione, the publisher of '' Penthouse'' magazine. The initial concept came from Keeton, who wanted a magazine "that explored all realms of science and the paranormal, that delved into all corners of the unknown and projected some of those discoveries into fiction". Dick Teresi, an author and former '' Good Housekeeping'' editor, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schrödinger's Kitten
''Schrödinger's Kitten'' is a 1988 novella by American writer George Alec Effinger, which won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Award and the Japanese Seiun Award. The story utilizes a form of the many-worlds hypothesis, and is named after the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment. It first appeared in '' Omni''. Plot summary The story follows a Middle-Eastern woman, Jehan Fatima Ashûfi, through various realities, ranging from one in which she is raped when still a girl, subsequently abandoned by her family and dies alone, to one in which she is sentenced to death for killing her would-be rapist and being unable to pay the "blood price" to his family, and another in which she becomes a physicist and companion to well-known German scientists ranging from Heisenberg to Schrödinger, and subsequently prevents the Nazis from developing nuclear weapons during World War II by simply forwarding "unintelligible scientific papers" to key politicians looking into the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002) was an American science fiction author, born in Cleveland, Ohio. Writing career Effinger was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 10, 1947. His father was a United States Navy veteran and his mother was a prostitute, and he grew up very poor. He attended Yale University on a scholarship, but he failed organic chemistry and dropped out of the pre-med program. He moved to New York City and began writing. His first wife, Diana, sometimes babysat for Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm, a married couple who were both science fiction writers. He joined the Clarion Writers' Workshop which they sponsored. Effinger's first three stories were published in the first Clarion anthology in 1971. His first published story was "The Eight-Thirty to Nine Slot" in ''Fantastic'' in 1971. During his early period, he also published under a variety of pseudonyms. His first novel, ''What Entropy Means to Me'' (1972), was nominated for the Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Bear
Gregory Dale Bear (August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American science fiction writer. His work covered themes of Interstellar_war, galactic conflict (''The Forge of God, Forge of God'' books), parallel universes (''The Way (Greg Bear), The Way'' series), consciousness and Cultural_practice, cultural practices (''Queen of Angels (novel), Queen of Angels''), and accelerated evolution (''Blood Music (novel), Blood Music'', ''Darwin's Radio'', and ''Darwin's Children''). His last work was the 2021 novel ''The Unfinished Land''. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total. He was one of the five co-founders of San Diego Comic-Con. Early life Greg Bear was born in San Diego, California. He attended San Diego State University (1968–1973), where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. At the university, he was a teaching assistant to Elizabeth Chater in her course on science fiction writing; in later years, they were friends. Career Bear is often classified as a hard science f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
