Dennis Hollingsworth

Life in the Margin of Error

Well, there it is. We are living inside the margin of error. The elections have been this way for some time now, too close to call. And with each successive election, increasingly too close to know even after the ballots have been counted. Now, more than ever, we need to rely on the electoral system to process the differences into a result we can all live with. And I hope that next week, it will not be that the best man would win, but that the one who does win is the best by the virtue of our system of government... lest we crumble into mere anarchy.

Has the cat become the observer? It seems that we are now inside Schr?dinger's famous box.

Let's let Cecil finish this one off... sort of:

Now, you'd say the cat either lives or it don't

But quantum mechanics is stubborn and won't.

Statistically speaking, the cat (goes the joke),

Is half a cat breathing and half a cat croaked.

To some this may seem a ridiculous split,

But quantum mechanics must answer, "Tough @#&!

We may not know much, but one thing's fo' sho':

There's things in the cosmos that we cannot know.

Shine light on electrons--you'll cause them to swerve.

The act of observing disturbs the observed--

Which ruins your test. But then if there's no testing

To see if a particle's moving or resting

Why try to conjecture? Pure useless endeavor!

We know probability--certainty, never.'

The effect of this notion? I very much fear

'Twill make doubtful all things that were formerly clear.