Never once growing up had I thought I’d ever say these words: “My cow is in a quantum state of existence.”
But she is.
She’s not in a box, like Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment. She’s real, and lives on a pasture in Texas.
She does all the things a normal cow does. Eats, sleeps, produces methane, the lot.
But her stubbornness has put her in a quantum quandary. Or a quantum conundrum. Or..
Back to the point about why she’s physics fodder.
I’m in the process of buying an acreage. The family selling the place had livestock on the land. In preparation for selling the place, they rustled up all the livestock. Well, all but one.
This one wasn’t moving. This was her home, gosh durn it, and no one was moving her off the land. She dug her heels in and went so far as to back into the 20 foot deep pond area. That was when the owner decided it’s better to let things be for awhile.
He’s come back to try to collect her, but she’s not having any part of it. The sales contract says, in essense, “Livestock are not staying with the property”. But that was written without the cow’s input and consent.
Neither the current owner nor I want to amend the contract to include the cow. I’m not keen, as that will likely mean I have to determine the fair market price of an old and stubborn cow. The owner isn’t keen because he’d like every opportunity to collect this cow before closing.
So this cow does and does not belong to the property. Hence the quantum state of her existence.
There are others far more intelligent than I who can explain the mechanics behind quantum physics. Spoiler alert: if one truly understands this topic then one has not really read up on it, haha. But the gist of what I’m talking about relates to what’s called “superposition”. This means something can be considered to be in two places at once until someone observes the thing.
Normally this type of thing is limited to things at extremely tiny measurement levels – smaller than atoms, for instance. Look up “double-slit wave particle” on a web search and you’ll see what I mean. However, this cow is exhibiting a similar property. We won’t know whether or not she’s part of the property until we “observe” her state at time of closing. I have all the items required for closing so all we’re doing is waiting for the date to arrive.
Until then, she’s in a state where she belongs to the property and she does not belong to the property.
I say “my” cow but technically she’s owned by the current property owner. But it’s more fun to say “my cow is in a quantum state of existence.”
And the name “Ginger Cowabunga”? That was off the back of a cow-naming poll from immediate family and my realtor. I was leaning towards “Cowy McCowface” but calmer heads prevailed.