Quantum Life: The Quantum State
Jan. 30th, 2017 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rayasoProf. Kransky had disappeared.
Unaware that the class had determined that he was dead, Kransky, not surprisingly, viewed himself as alive. As a result of the paradox, he wasn't in the classroom anymore. He wasn't not in the classroom, either. In fact, it had become impossible to pin down his exact location.
Kransky had entered a state of simultaneous existence/non-existence, previously unknown to scientists.
"It's just a stupid magic trick!" yelled a student in the front row. The other students were too busy with their phones to notice anything, although later the twitterverse, which was not affected by quantum principles, was full of praise for the novel lecturing technique.
Dr. Carson had no idea what had just happened. All she knew was that she saw a glimmer in the box, which quickly vanished, so she texted everyone to go home until Kransky returned.
Kransky never returned, at least not in his original state. "What just happened?" he thought. "One minute, I'm in a dark box, and the next . . . I don't know."
He climbed out of the box, but the classroom was empty. This, by itself, did not bother him, since the students frequently left early for emergencies. Kransky did notice that colors had become more vibrant and that everything had a slight sheen. There was also the problem with his body. It kept blinking in and out of existence. "I'll need to get that looked at," he thought, but he wasn't particularly worried. That was the other thing Kransky noticed -- he wasn't particularly anything.
"I need to find Stephanie, she'll know what's going on," he thought. Stephanie was almost as brilliant as he was, and under his tutelage she was sure to have a great career. "She just needs to do something about those eyes," he thought. Lately, Kransky noticed that her eyes had started to roll involuntarily during his lectures.
Kransky's first steps changed his plans. He stumbled, and fell through the chairs. "That's odd," he thought, as he picked himself out of the students' seats. He had an idea. Rather than open the classroom doors, he successfully tried passing through them. "Neat!" thought Kransky. "But that's not normal. It usually hurts when I walk into them."
Kransky held his hand in front of his face. "It still has that funny glow." The building's outside walls were made of reflecting glass, and he could see the nearby trees, buildings and students, but not himself, at least not consistently. Sometimes he was there, sometimes not, but nobody else seemed to see him. One of the students walked right through him, which was an interesting experience.
His training as a physicist finally kicked in. "I must be in some kind of altered state." That seemed like a fun idea, for a moment. "If I can walk through solid matter, then what's holding me up?"
That was Kransky's mistake. With this realization, he plunged through the sidewalk, and then the ground underneath. He passed through the layered structure of the Earth, at first getting hotter as he zoomed through the crust, then the mantle and the core, going faster and faster. He passed right through the solid inner core, and began his experience in reverse, cooling down and then gradually slowing until he emerged on the opposite side of the Earth.
"I always wondered about that," Kransky thought, who was known for his original ideas. He had stacks of unpublished papers on his desk rejected by backward-thinking journals, whose editors were too limited in their scope to appreciate the genius of his mind.
His second thought was to notice that he was floating on his head in the middle of an ocean. "Where am I?" thought Kransky, not unreasonably. Were he not geographically impaired, Kransky would have known that the Indian Ocean is on the other side of the Earth from UCLA.
"Thank god for gravity!" Kransky said to a passing shark, which fortunately wasn't interested in eating a glimmer today. With the realization that the only force acting on him was gravity, he ping-ponged several times between California and the Indian Ocean before he managed to get himself under control and stop back at UCLA.
During his trips through the earth, Kransky managed, finally, to solve the puzzle of his existence. "I'm an angel," he thought. "I must have died in that box." Kransky's particles immediately rearranged themselves to include wings, but no halo.
Kransky flew around for a while, seeing Los Angeles from the air, which did not excite him. He wondered when he would actually see Heaven, because he was getting bored and hungry. "I didn't know angels got hungry," he thought. Regrettably, this was to lead to his downfall.
Kransky did not truly comprehend the possibilities of his quantum state. The only force acting on his particles was gravity, and the only constraint was his imagination. He could have been anywhere, instantaneously, and in any form. The universe was his playground and time was meaningless. As a physicist, he could have solved the problems of dark energy or been part of the creation of the universe.
Because Kransky had not thought of any of this, he was controlled by his immediate thoughts, erratic though they were. Deciding that he needed food, Kransky became food. He turned into a club sandwich while flying over the Pacific Ocean and fell from the sky.
Not only does a sandwich lack wings, it lacks imagination or any kind of thought. There was no way out of this particular existence. At that moment, Paul Kransky's quantum state was permanently fixed and he ceased to exist except as bacon, turkey and bread, which fell to the sea floor and eventually disintegrated, returning his physical matter to the universe.
Professor Kransky's unfortunate experiment was not without consequences to others.
Stephanie Carson knew that there had been no magic trick, because Kransky was incapable of pulling one off. The sight of the glimmer when she opened the box intrigued her, and as a scientist, she had to determine what had happened that day. Her search for answers was the start of a magnificent career.
Quantum State B
Or
The conclusion...
Unaware that the class had determined that he was dead, Kransky, not surprisingly, viewed himself as alive. As a result of the paradox, he wasn't in the classroom anymore. He wasn't not in the classroom, either. In fact, it had become impossible to pin down his exact location.
Kransky had entered a state of simultaneous existence/non-existence, previously unknown to scientists.
"It's just a stupid magic trick!" yelled a student in the front row. The other students were too busy with their phones to notice anything, although later the twitterverse, which was not affected by quantum principles, was full of praise for the novel lecturing technique.
Dr. Carson had no idea what had just happened. All she knew was that she saw a glimmer in the box, which quickly vanished, so she texted everyone to go home until Kransky returned.
Kransky never returned, at least not in his original state. "What just happened?" he thought. "One minute, I'm in a dark box, and the next . . . I don't know."
He climbed out of the box, but the classroom was empty. This, by itself, did not bother him, since the students frequently left early for emergencies. Kransky did notice that colors had become more vibrant and that everything had a slight sheen. There was also the problem with his body. It kept blinking in and out of existence. "I'll need to get that looked at," he thought, but he wasn't particularly worried. That was the other thing Kransky noticed -- he wasn't particularly anything.
"I need to find Stephanie, she'll know what's going on," he thought. Stephanie was almost as brilliant as he was, and under his tutelage she was sure to have a great career. "She just needs to do something about those eyes," he thought. Lately, Kransky noticed that her eyes had started to roll involuntarily during his lectures.
Kransky's first steps changed his plans. He stumbled, and fell through the chairs. "That's odd," he thought, as he picked himself out of the students' seats. He had an idea. Rather than open the classroom doors, he successfully tried passing through them. "Neat!" thought Kransky. "But that's not normal. It usually hurts when I walk into them."
Kransky held his hand in front of his face. "It still has that funny glow." The building's outside walls were made of reflecting glass, and he could see the nearby trees, buildings and students, but not himself, at least not consistently. Sometimes he was there, sometimes not, but nobody else seemed to see him. One of the students walked right through him, which was an interesting experience.
His training as a physicist finally kicked in. "I must be in some kind of altered state." That seemed like a fun idea, for a moment. "If I can walk through solid matter, then what's holding me up?"
That was Kransky's mistake. With this realization, he plunged through the sidewalk, and then the ground underneath. He passed through the layered structure of the Earth, at first getting hotter as he zoomed through the crust, then the mantle and the core, going faster and faster. He passed right through the solid inner core, and began his experience in reverse, cooling down and then gradually slowing until he emerged on the opposite side of the Earth.
"I always wondered about that," Kransky thought, who was known for his original ideas. He had stacks of unpublished papers on his desk rejected by backward-thinking journals, whose editors were too limited in their scope to appreciate the genius of his mind.
His second thought was to notice that he was floating on his head in the middle of an ocean. "Where am I?" thought Kransky, not unreasonably. Were he not geographically impaired, Kransky would have known that the Indian Ocean is on the other side of the Earth from UCLA.
"Thank god for gravity!" Kransky said to a passing shark, which fortunately wasn't interested in eating a glimmer today. With the realization that the only force acting on him was gravity, he ping-ponged several times between California and the Indian Ocean before he managed to get himself under control and stop back at UCLA.
During his trips through the earth, Kransky managed, finally, to solve the puzzle of his existence. "I'm an angel," he thought. "I must have died in that box." Kransky's particles immediately rearranged themselves to include wings, but no halo.
Kransky flew around for a while, seeing Los Angeles from the air, which did not excite him. He wondered when he would actually see Heaven, because he was getting bored and hungry. "I didn't know angels got hungry," he thought. Regrettably, this was to lead to his downfall.
Kransky did not truly comprehend the possibilities of his quantum state. The only force acting on his particles was gravity, and the only constraint was his imagination. He could have been anywhere, instantaneously, and in any form. The universe was his playground and time was meaningless. As a physicist, he could have solved the problems of dark energy or been part of the creation of the universe.
Because Kransky had not thought of any of this, he was controlled by his immediate thoughts, erratic though they were. Deciding that he needed food, Kransky became food. He turned into a club sandwich while flying over the Pacific Ocean and fell from the sky.
Not only does a sandwich lack wings, it lacks imagination or any kind of thought. There was no way out of this particular existence. At that moment, Paul Kransky's quantum state was permanently fixed and he ceased to exist except as bacon, turkey and bread, which fell to the sea floor and eventually disintegrated, returning his physical matter to the universe.
Professor Kransky's unfortunate experiment was not without consequences to others.
Stephanie Carson knew that there had been no magic trick, because Kransky was incapable of pulling one off. The sight of the glimmer when she opened the box intrigued her, and as a scientist, she had to determine what had happened that day. Her search for answers was the start of a magnificent career.
Quantum State B
Or
The conclusion...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2017-02-04 08:28 am (UTC)This was a well-deserved dig at modern society. Though he clearly didn't inspire his students to pay better attention...
Lately, Kransky noticed that her eyes had started to roll involuntarily during his lectures.
Hahahaha! Poor woman...
"Thank god for gravity!" Kransky said to a passing shark, which fortunately wasn't interested in eating a glimmer today.
I wonder if there's a psych ward in the ocean? The shark may need one later...
"I'm an angel," he thought.
Throughout, it is clear Kransky does not suffer from lack of self-esteem...
Is there a sadder fate than becoming an uneaten sandwich?
no subject
Date: 2017-02-04 03:52 pm (UTC)