Superposition states

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Episode transcript

When I was a little particle I would drive my mother nuts! She could never really tell where I was or where I was going.
She’d leave me in my room, and I’d stay there for a brief moment. But then I’d start drifting in all directions, and soon I was all over the place. And I mean that literally: I had so much trouble deciding where to go, that it was like I was all around the house, playing with every toy we had. I myself couldn’t even tell where I was until my mother arrived. The moment she’d catch me, though, I knew exactly where I was… in trouble. The only way she could make me stay in the same place was to keep watching over me.
As I developed in size, I grew out of that phase: I know reasonably well where I am and where I am going. Though, sometimes, when facing hard choices, I still have trouble deciding… I still behave like when I was a little particle…

Fa7+              Mim7
What will I be tomorrow
Rem7               Do7+
Which path will I take
Mib7+                 Rem7
Will it bring joy or sorrow
Dom7                   Sib7+
What am I putting at stake


Fa7+                  Mim7
Should I change my direction
Rem7                Do7+
Or make a minor correction
      Rem7      Sol7
Am I coming or going
         Mim7       La7
There's no way of knowing
   Fa7+        Rem7     Sol 7
a future I've yet to decide
       Fa/Sol
'cause I'm

    Do     Rem7    Do6
In superposition state
          Do     Rem7    Mim7
I'm in a superposition state
            Lam7          Mim7
There's so much on the plate
    Fa7+      Mim7
So much to debate
      Rem7   Fa/Sol  Do9
In a superposition state

Fa7+              Mim7
What are my expectation
Rem7                       Do7+
Out of this world that we live in
Mib7+                       Rem7
Will all these random fluctuations
Dom7              Sib7+
Decide what I am given

Fa7+             Mim7
Will I open the curtain
Rem7                      Do7+
And see if my future's uncertain
Rem7            Sol7
Is my destiny written
   Mim7         Lam7
Am I saved or smitten
    Fa7+           Rem7     Sol 7
Is my will still free to decide
      Fa/Sol
since I'm

Do           Rem7    Do6
In a superposition state
          Do     Rem7    Mim7
I'm in a superposition state
           Lam7      Mim7
There's no early or late
   Fa7+        Mim7
Decisions can wait
      Rem7   Fa/Sol  Do
in a superposition state

(Solo)

Do Rem7 Do6
Do Rem7 Mim7
Lam7 Mim7
Fa7+ Mim7
Rem7 Fa/Sol


          Do     Rem7    Do6
I'm in a superposition state
          Do     Rem7    Mim7
I'm in a superposition state
            Lam7         Mim7
There's so much on the plate
    Fa7+      Mim7
So much to debate
      Rem7
In a superposition
       Sol7
(in a superposition)
          Rem7
I'm in a superposition
       Sol7
(in a superposition)
      Rem7   Fa/Sol  Do9
In a superposition state

Direct download: 02 Superposition states.mp3

The expanding universe

Fully formatted shownotes can always be found at http://scientificramblings.blogspot.com/

Episode transcript

Ah, the ever expanding universe… I still remember when the universe was so small that you could see it all. I was very young back then… in the fact the whole universe was young!

You could pick a direction, any direction, take a couple of steps and you’d be back where you started. You could jump, land on the same spot, while going around the whole thing! I remember that we used to run around and see who would make the most laps in a minute. My friend Q’knu would go so fast that he would almost be all around the universe at the same time.

Our parents didn’t like that one bit: we were already cramped for space, all pressed on top of one another, and having all these youngsters running all around you must have been very annoying. But the fact is: there wasn’t much to do back then… there was no internet… no Solar system… no galaxies… everything was pretty much homogenous.

So we would get into trouble. Q’knu would get into trouble the most, and his parents were very severe. One day he was so angry at them that he tried running away… which was obviously a very silly idea… In fact, nobody really noticed.

It was hot too… In fact, that’s how we started noticing something was happening: every morning was a little bit cooler. And our running records were getting worse. At first we thought we were just getting tired of the game, or that we were getting older, and couldn’t run as fast as we once did… then we realized that it was not us: it was the distance that was getting longer.
With more space, it was easier to do things: we could actually take a shower only a hundred at a time instead of a million at a time. And we developed new habits.

When it started to take more than a day to go around the universe, people realized they couldn’t just leave their things scattered all around, so they started gathering them and settled in different areas. Our one big community divided into multiple communities in different parts of space.

Q’knu and I settled in different regions. At first it took just a couple of hours to go from my place to his place. Then it took days, weeks, months… We got farther and farther apart, we all did, and I haven’t heard from him anymore. There’s so much space now that it’s basically impossible to go around the universe as we used to do.

There is this theory that at some point the universe will start getting smaller, and we’ll all be together again. The older generation tends to like it more: I guess they never really got used to the whole expansion thing. My grandfather sometimes talks about “when we’re back there” and how he’ll finally be able to beat Ut’n’p at chess: he has been practicing for billions and billions of years now…

As for me, I am not too sure whether I’d like that. I got accustomed to all the space, and what I really look back on is my childhood and those simple games. And a smaller universe won’t bring it back.

Acknowledgements

This episode is inpired by "Le cosmicomiche" by Italo Calvino.

Direct download: 01 The expanding universe.mp3