Comments on: The Cambridgeshire Cat

By: EAS

EAS — Wed, 21 May 2008 05:30:23 +0000

The quote originated from the Penrose/Hawking debate following Penrose’s three 1995 Tanner Lectures. See p.7 in
http://www.hawking.org.uk/ps/penrose4.ps
Here’s the quote with a bit more context: “Roger is worried about Schrödinger’s poor cat. Such a thought experiment would not be politically correct nowadays. But I have a lot of sympathy with Herman Goering who is reported to have said: When I hear of Schrödinger’s cat I reach for my gun.”
The line Hawking attributes to Göring actually derives from a play by Hanns Johst.

By: Philipp Brauer

Philipp Brauer — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:57:58 +0000

I think, Prof. Hawking intends to say, that if there
is such a thing as a hybrid state of life and death or one accepts the many-world-theory, which some people claim, can be deduced from “Schrödinger´s Cat”, he will also be able to reach for a gun (to transform the hybrid state of cat in a definite state, the death); at least in some universes. But from this statement one can read, that he does not accept such interpretations or conclusions as the many-world-theory.

By: SHC

SHC — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 02:31:33 +0000

When I hear of Hawking’s Gun, I reach for my cat.

By: Ralph Hartley

Ralph Hartley — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:42:18 +0000

* Prof. Hawking intends to shoot the cat
* Prof. Hawking intends to shoot the bore
* Prof. Hawking intends to shoot himself

Or it could be a superposition of those posibilities

By: P.

P. — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:22:17 +0000

From a website:

“Hawking is famous for his oft-made statement, “When I hear of Schrödinger’s cat, I reach for my gun.” This was a deliberately ironic paraphrase of Hermann Goering’s anti-intellectual quote, “When I hear the word ‘culture’, I reach for my revolver”, which itself was from a play by German playwright and Nazi Poet Laureate, Hanns Johst.”

By: Matthias Kläy

Matthias Kläy — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 03:43:13 +0000

Whatever he ist trying to shoot at, he is going to miss it. Such is the nature of quantum phenomena. I suspect that Mr Hawking is a card carrying hardcore determinist who makes short shrift with everything that he cannot explain in one sentence.
So I will make sure that I never cross his paths. Nine lives are much too short in order to waste even one of them to someone who cannot not allow for doubt (i.e., for ontological uncertainty).

meeeow
The Cat that owns Schrödinger

By: Matthew Leifer

Matthew Leifer — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 11:57:38 +0000

I don’t know what happened to the title of that post, but it’s fixed now.

Hmm, the quote could be in the Penrose/Hawking book, maybe in one of the discussion sessions. Unfortunately, my library is also in boxes and several thousand miles away, so there’s not much chance of checking that unless I can be bothered to walk 100 yards to the math library.

On another topic, it looks like there will be a trio of quantum bloggeurs at the Royal Society next weekend.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 20:51:18 +0000

I always intepreted this quote as meaning he would shoot the cat so that he wouldn’t have to hear of it anymore.

This reminds me, I was at a party once and a nonphysicist started to ask me about Schrodinger’s cat – before he could finish asking, I blurted “it’s dead.”

By: Dave Bacon

Dave Bacon — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:55:28 +0000

Maybe in that book where Penrose and Hawking alternate in debate? It really sucks having my library in boxes as I can’t get into them to check.

I wonder if, now that Hawking has conceeded part of his bet with Preskill/Thorne whether he now thinks that he needs to take a more humane approach to cats?