"Edward M. Lerner - Inside the Box" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lerner Edward M)

particle may be, and where it may be going.” Doggedly, he ignored the arm
waving from the second tier of seats. “But can this uncertainty manifest
itself in the macroscopic world we experience? That is what Erwin
Shrodinger set out to consider....”

“Professor.” Young Mr. McDowell’s tone, although respectful, was
quite insistent. The sophomore stood to emphasize his seriousness.
“We—the class, that is—we feel we should discuss yesterday’s events.”

A flood of ... memories? ... displaced whatever the student said next.
A near-miss handgun attack. A flung knife by chance impaling a pigeon
inopportunely availing itself of the open window. A hurtling hand grenade
vanished in mid-arc.

Thaddeus shook himself by the mental lapels. Nonsense. Pointing at
the board, he continued. “Returning to today’s subject, Dr. Shrodinger
devised a thought experiment to illustrate quantum uncertainty. My cartoon
reveals the inside of the box, but imagine that its walls are quite opaque,
quite impenetrable.” Beside the stick-figure cat, he drew a tiny square.
“This mechanism contains a bit of radioactive material. Detection of a
single radioactive decay,” and he tapped the board once with his chalk
stump, “releases poisonous gas.”

He was explaining a decay event as a particle’s spontaneous
emission from an atomic nucleus—a manifestation of positional
uncertainty—when murmurs of protestation stopped him. Hairs rose on the
nape of his neck. In the otherwise jammed hall, one cluster of seats
remained unoccupied. It was where something had happened.

Only it couldn’t have.

Mr. McDowell was still, or once again, on his feet. He followed
Thaddeus’ gaze to the empty few chairs. “We don’t understand
abouthimeither, sir. The ... intruder.”

Heads nodded. Voices rang out in agreement. A hundred pairs of
eyes beseeched Thaddeus. He relented. “My unborn grandson, you mean.
It’s impossible, you know.”

“But professor...”

With outstretched arm and firm voice, Thaddeus interrupted. “You
know what you saw, you were going to insist. What you, and your
colleagues in later sections of the class, all saw. Or what, rather, you’ve
now convinced yourselves you saw, after repeated retellings of the tale.”
He lowered his arm and voice. “Surely there is a simpler explanation than
the impossible.

“A time-travel lecture, illustrated with the grandfather paradox, in a hot,
stuffy classroom. A passing car backfires. A guest audits the lecture,