Periodic reminder that Schrödinger came up with the thought experiment of the cat as a way to argue that quantum superposition (both "alive and dead at the same time") was absurd.
Discussion
That’s the irony of it. Universe doesn’t give a f about our common senses.
Not arguing at all.
I'm just saying that the concept that "the answer can be both yes and no (simultaneously)" is simply not what's happening -- as per Schödinger's reductio ad absurdum with the cat.
A particle is never in two states at the same time, it's always in whatever state it is. What quantum physics tells us is that the state is probabilistic. So, a particle that can be either ON or OFF, is not ON "and" OFF, but 50% probably ON and 50% probably OFF.
I’m not arguing with you either. Esh asked for an explanation of quantum computing to a 6 years old so I did some oversimplification, so my sentences might lost some context (english is not my main language you know).
When I said “at the same time” I meant at the same instance. If we can measure the spin of an electron (for instance), we would observe +1/2 or -1/2, no other way around. But when we’re not observing the spin, you cannot know which probability is happening.
I hope I could explain what I mean.
That's correct. Just not if we summarize it as "it's both + and -1/2 at the same time". That never happens. It's one single state with a 50-50% probability of being +1/2 or -1/2.