Schrodinger's cat Paradox explained for Dummies

Schrodinger devised a thought experiment which is described as a paradox.

He wrote:
"One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of the hour, one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges, and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself, it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks."

Well, this might me bit too complicated for you to understand so I am here to break it down for you: 

Imagine a box. This box is a special box,you can not see through it or hear any sound coming out from it. Basically you can't take any observation of an event happening inside of the box when it is closed. Now a dude comes and puts a cat in the box. He has an explosive device(say a grenade) which has 50% chance of blowing up and 50% chance of not blowing up in an hour and if it doesn't it deactivates itself after the hour. He puts that grenade in the box and closes the box(a horrible person?).There can be two cases:
1) The bomb has blown up and killed the cat.
2) The bomb didn't blow and is deactivated leaving the cat safe inside of the box.
Now comes the interesting part. So after a hour the box looks exactly the same no matter what. There is a 50% chance of the cat being dead and 50% chance of it being alive and you cant tell that only if you open the box. What if you don't? There is no way you can tell if its alive or dead if you don't open the box. So is it dead or is it alive? This is the paradox.

But in Schrodinger thought experiment  he put a radio-active substance in the box which triggers a poison(50-50 chance) to be released in the box which kills the cat and chances of that happening is 50-50. There have been many interpretations of this experiment:

1) Copenhagen interpretation: According to him and quantum theory it is BOTH ALIVE AND DEAD AT THE SAME TIME when you are not looking. It is like a zombie cat? Just when you open the box and look at it suddenly becomes either  dead or alive. This certainty of weather it is dead or alive is due to your act of observing it. Now think about it,this means when you are not looking your girlfriend/boyfriend is cheating on you and loyal to you the same time. :P

2) Many-worlds interpretation: This one is my favourite. According to it,after the hour the cat is alive in one world and dead in the other. Both are real and equally possible but there can not be any interaction between the worlds. Lets say: world-1(cat alive) and world-2(cat dead). So when   you open the box you can say which world you are in. You are either in world-1 or world-2. but both the worlds exist but is non-coherent.

The quantum-mechanical "Schrödinger's cat" paradox according to the many-worlds interpretation. In this interpretation, every event is a branch point. The cat is both alive and dead—regardless of whether the box is opened—but the "alive" and "dead" cats are in different branches of the universe that are equally real but cannot interact with each other(from Wikipedia)

This branching of worlds happens after every event. So in one world out there Nazis never came to power,India is a superpower,you were never been born and Justin Bieber died in a car accident last week.

DMT: The spirit molecule

I have been studying a lot of psychoactive drugs lately and i came across this compound called DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) . I found it to be quite interesting. It is the most potent and most hallucinogenic compound known to man and getting hands on it is like 'trippers' dream coming true.

 Its effects depends on the dosage taken and its subjective effects can range from short-lived milder psychedelic states to powerful immersive experiences. It is described that relatively moderate dosage can cause total loss of connection to conventional reality. Users say that it is as if the soul has left the body and has been transferred to some alien realm where they, many-a-times encounter god like beings.

    LSD(also called acid) has been the drug of choice for recreational users. It also has very strong psychoactive effects. In 1965; LSD was easier to manufacture, transport, sell, and imbibe. It is a true miracle drug in the sense it was able to reach out and touch so many people so quickly, and Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, and others, saw the potential in this radical new transformative “technology”. You may even know many celebrities who tried LSD like Jack Nicholson, John Lennon, Steve Jobs,John F. Kennedy,Beatles,Jimi hendrix(and hence the birth of acid rock) and many others I cant remember right now. Interestingly none of them have ever been found regretting  the decision  to do LSD. Steve jobs is quoted as saying “Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life. LSD shows you that there’s another side to the coin, and you can’t remember it when it wears off, but you know it. It reinforced my sense of what was important—creating great things instead of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of human consciousness as much as I could.” 

Meanwhile (in 1965) DMT was extremely rare and still being injected IM. DMT could never have touched so many people in such a short time by being the opposite in terms of its synthesis (difficult), product (smelly and obvious), and methodology (notoriously tricky!), and comparatively few people (even in the sixties) have had the opportunity to try it. 

 The thing about DMT is that you get transported to someplace else like another plane of existence  whereas the effects of lsd is seen on this everyday plane of existence mostly. I will probably blog about LSD and my experience with it later sometime.

Its just another clever laboratory synthesized drug, whats the big deal about it? This is something you may ask. What astonished me is that DMT is found in all the mammals and in more than half of the plant kingdom! It is synthesized in our own brain and has been found to be reason we dream.It occurs naturally in our brain, spinal fluid, seminal fluid, blood, and other areas of the body.There is no found reason for its presence in organisms. Why would such a bizarre compound be present in all the plant and animal kingdom? It is even found that before dying our brains release huge amounts of DMT. 

  Many people who have near death experience claim that they went through a tunnel and on the other side there was a bright light and there have been reports of having out of body experiences(like seeing his own dead body and the people around from above).They believe that the spirit has left the body and is going to heaven. This is exactly something that happens many a times when you take DMT. The tunnel experience is common and out of body feeling happens almost every time. 

  The drug can administered  through IV injection or smoking raw DMT crystals but can not be ingested orally. Most users smoke it because of the ease. The compound is harmless to the body and is non toxic but smoking can be a little harsh on the lungs. It can be also taken orally through the Ayahuasca brew which is made with diffrent plants it is used for divinatory and healing purposes by the native peoples of Amazonian Peru.

Pure DMT crystals


After some research and reading from users i have come up with this time/effect table:

• 0-15 secs - your lungs start to burn, feels like you want to cough.
• 15-45 secs - You will hear a very loud whooshing sound in your ears and it will continue to get louder and louder, and you eventual feel your self almost blow up and enter this new universe.
• 45 sec-1 min - You will break through into another universe, known to many DMT users and DMT hyperspace. Your heart will begin to beat faster and your pulse will significantly rise.
• 1 min- 5min - You are no longer in your body and you are floating in this hyperspace universe. Many things can be seen in this universe. Many people reports a kind of 4 th dimension looking place with everything in 3d plus a sort of time shifting that happens every few seconds. You may see different beings or entities that look like a sort of religious figure or god. There is also many reports of people seeing an amazing chrysanthemum pattern with many interlocking colors and textures. A major time dilation also occurs just like when you are dreaming. Some say that this 5 mins feels like a thousand years.
• 5 - 10min - The visions eventual fade in and out. There are still many patterns and textures when your eyes are closed but when your eyes are open you will seeing the basic vision of the real world.
• 10- 45 min - You have a slight feeling of euphoria that will last for about 30 minutes after you experience the visual trip.
• 60 min - You are completely sober from DMT's effects. You are thousand year older and wiser and have a new insight of the earth and the universe.

So guys if you ever find some of this DMT don't forget to call me over ;)

 

5 scariest(and interesting) mental conditions

I have listed some of the mental conditions which i find  scary and interesting, its not in any kind of order:

1) Cotard's syndrome: It is a rare condition which makes people believe they are actually Dead. People suffering from this syndrome believe that they are dead,have never existed or have no inner organs. These people are completely fine otherwise,at least physically, but they believe that they are dead as strongly as you and I believe that we are alive

2) Capgras syndrome/Capgras delusion: It makes you believe that a person close to you has been replaced by an impostor.You will see your mother,father or spouse as they normally are but will not believe that it is actually them! You will be completely convinced that it not your loved one but someone pretending to be,no matter what they say or do.

3) Anton-Babinski syndrome: People with this syndrome are actually blind but they do not know that they are blind and will deny it if you ask them. They cant see a thing, they bump into walls, crash into furniture but they will not realize or admit it that they are actually blind. This condition is not perfectly understood but it seems to be related to strokes and head injuries.

4)Apotemnophillia: It makes a person who is really healthy want to cut off one of his own limbs. They don't look crazy,they will look completely rational and sane and they will be complete functional in society but on the side they not only want to chop off their hands and legs but often act on the desire. It is not completely known why this happens but neurologists believe that it is due to not having a complete body image map and the patient believes that the limp is not a part of his body.

5)Fatal familial insomnia: This one probably the srariest of them all. it is a genetic condition and once it kicks in it will make it impossible for your brain  to go to sleep. sleeping pills and sanatives do not work and people who are affected by it will stay awake until they die. Luckly it is a extreemly rare condition but it is scrary because it basically a nurological death sentance.
  The disease has four stages, taking 7 to 18 months to run its course:
1. The patient suffers increasing insomnia, resulting in panic attacks, paranoia, and phobias. This stage lasts for about four months.
2. Hallucinations and panic attacks become noticeable, continuing for about five months.
3. Complete inability to sleep is followed by rapid loss of weight. This lasts for about three months.
4. Dementia, during which the patient becomes unresponsive or mute over the course of six months. This is the final progression of the disease, after which death follows.