Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

quantum-3

2022-01-05 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
quantum-3
Votey panel for quantum-3
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

This comic plays on Einstein's famous quote about quantum mechanics: "God does not play dice."

The top panel is set in 1926, showing Einstein (recognizable by his mustache and wild hair) declaring, "I am at all events convinced that He does not play dice." This is a paraphrase of Einstein's real objection to the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics -- he believed the universe should be deterministic.

The bottom panel jumps to "Today," where a scientist bursts excitedly out of a lab door shouting, "Booyah! We just got God to play dice with a tardigrade!" This references real modern quantum mechanics experiments that have achieved quantum effects (such as entanglement or superposition) with increasingly large objects. Tardigrades (microscopic, extremely resilient animals) have been the subject of claims about being placed in quantum entangled states.

The joke is the contrast between Einstein's solemn philosophical objection and the gleeful modern scientist who has not only proven Einstein wrong but has escalated the situation -- they didn't just show that God plays dice, they got God to play dice with a bizarre microscopic creature. It also pokes fun at how modern physics has moved far beyond the debates that once troubled Einstein.

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