Surinical t1_j24p7jq wrote
“It doesn’t work that way.” Dale looked down at his phone, bored smirk spread on his tanned face. “Observer in physics terms means any system that is capable of measuring or detecting the state of a quantum system. Not to mention macro effects like you’re describing would never be-”
“Then I don’t know how to describe it,” I said. “It's like stuff doesn’t settle if I’m the only one watching. Here.” I took out a coin from my pocket. “Turn around.”
Dale pocketed his phone and stretched as he turned to face the wall. “Alright.”
I flipped the coin, muscles tensed like I was about to start mom’s miter saw. Washington's profile rolled through the air and then hung just above the ground, jittering in the chaotic cloudy mess.
“Okay, it didn’t land. Until you turn around, it's just like a disk of all the different ways it could land.”
“That so?” Dale said. “Assuming you aren’t lying, try and grab it.”
“I’ve tried that. It’s like grabbing it all at once but not at all, feels weird, like pressing my finger into foam.”
“Is one of the probabilities on its edge?” Dale asked. He reached to grab his drink without turning around.
I looked at the swirling zone, quarter face up and face down in a hundred different spots, almost making up a larger coin when viewed all together. My head hurt. I did notice one singular ghost of a quarter balanced up.”Yeah, actually. Just one.”
I reached out to touch it, just as Dale turned around. The coin condensed into the vertical one, just before toppling on its side, tails.
“Pretty convenient your little trick only works when no one’s looking, huh?” Dale said, shivering for a moment despite the warmth of the room.
“Yeah-” I started before I noticed something behind Dale, something inky black resting a snout on his shoulder. Dale didn’t react.
“What the fuck,” I yelled. Dale looked at me baffled then all around. The thing came into better view as he turned. It was surrounded by a miasma of dust and smoke, it looked like the dried mummy of a too big coyote covered in fungal blooms like deformed wings. It had eyes only for Dale.
Dale’s drink fell. I flinched, expecting the chaos, but only a few drops were out of Dale’s sight. I didn’t want to take my eyes off the creature. Dale stuck a hand through its face as it sniffed him to scratch his beard.
"What?" he said. "You're helping me clean this up, you know?"
My eyes were drawn to the few drops along the wall, dancing their quantum jig. They weren’t a mash of every probability like always. Somehow shimmering words lingered in the cloud of potential stains, just legible enough to read. I blinked twice then forced a smile back at Dale, the message rolling through my head. "Yeah, sure." I managed.
Don’t show it you can see it.
/r/surinical
King_of_the_Hobos t1_j25l5u0 wrote
I greatly appreciate the scientific correction at the beginning. This is starting to become the new "WhAt iF wE uSeD 100% oF oUr BrAiN?"
HardcoreMandolinist t1_j26w8ze wrote
You're saying that the 100% of your brain thing is bullshit, right?
If you use 100% of your brain at once you're having a seizure.
To clarify it's the fact that we're not using all of our brain at once that gives it any meaning. I would be kind of like finding a meaningful message in a string of 86 Billion ones and not a single zero. There is no meaning, it's just... on.
To be fair this is an oversimplification and I'm not qualified to explain it much better but it is a fallacy that using all of our brain would be beneficial.
King_of_the_Hobos t1_j270d7e wrote
> You're saying that the 100% of your brain thing is bullshit, right?
I'm referring to the "We only use 10 percent of our brains" thing. There was even a movie about it with Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansenn called Lucy where she unlocks the ability to "use 100 percent of her brain" and becomes some kind of god lol
HardcoreMandolinist t1_j27aijq wrote
Yeah, I remember that.
From a scientific stand point the premise was all kinds of flawed. It makes for cool sci-fi but personally I reject the idea of actually using it as sci-fi because too many people believe that it's actually plausible and it just perpetuates bad science ideas.
I just did a search on this subject and this article from psychology today was the first one I clicked on. It just so happens to make reference to Lucy.
Padgriffin t1_j272j37 wrote
There’s an SCP where a bunch of guys managed to use 100% of their brains- and most of them promptly died when their automatic functions shut off. The last guy managed to survive through sheer force of will before they found him and hooked him up to life support, but he’s still basically catatonic due to having to manage stuff like stomach digestion and what not
jflb96 t1_j278992 wrote
There’s a Discworld book where Death gets forcibly retired just before he’s meant to collect an old wizard, who then shocks his colleagues by turning up the day after his wake* and greeting them at breakfast with the words ‘does anyone know what a spleen does?’
*As wizards know when they’re going to die, or at least get enough advance warning to take out some large loans and empty their wine cellars, their wakes tend to take place building up to the event in question.
AJMansfield_ t1_j27hj0n wrote
Did you know your car only ever uses 25% of its engine?
[deleted] t1_j26vusi wrote
[deleted]
gabeheadman t1_j24sjfp wrote
I love the shit you write. Goddamnit.
Surinical t1_j24zh1x wrote
Thanks friend!
The-dude-in-the-bush t1_j25te52 wrote
That was such a crazy read. Totally wasn't expecting the twist at the end. It also expanded my perspective on the prompt. I presumed it to be one sided. Like the universe does it's quantum physics shenanigans as normal and only the MC can see the interesting stuff that scientists would otherwise need equipment for. This however makes the universe sentient. Now what I wanna know, is who is this quantum apparition that the universe itself is communicating a warning?
jackiethewitch t1_j25t59u wrote
Can you explain the ending to me? I don't get the fuzzy coyote thing.
Surinical t1_j25w6y5 wrote
The universe doesn't flag the protagonist as an observer, so the things that always hang just out of sight don't hide from him.
jackiethewitch t1_j25x93q wrote
No, I understand quantum physics and the coin being in a superstate until the wave function collapsed by his friend turning around. (queue Feynman's "Anybody who thinks they understand Quantum Mechanics does not understand Quantum Mechanics.") What I don't get is what the protagonist sees at the end.
That's what is frustrating to me here -- I love your story. I love how you wrote it, and the scientific accuracy of the explanation and the coin. I have no idea what happens at the end. (or perhaps more accurately, what probabilities the protagonist saw before the end.)
Surinical t1_j25xeyg wrote
The coyote is the thing that hangs always out of sight. Not a reference to real science. The message is from some benevolent entity warning him to not let the coyote know he can see it or it will recognize him as an observer.
jackiethewitch t1_j25xvoh wrote
> The coyote is the thing that hangs always out of sight.
Is this a pop culture reference I'm missing? (I live on pop culture references, that embarasses me.)
Surinical t1_j25ym0y wrote
A few horror stories and movies are based around a monster that thinks it's invisible and the characters have to act like they don't see it while hiding how terrified they are, so I thought I would work that concept into this.
Dale shivers as the coyote approaches to show he somewhat can sense it, maybe as a feeling of being watched. So the coyote is what causes that hurry up and close the door feeling we get sometimes when it's dark and quiet.
There's not really much 'to get' that you're missing. I just thought it was an interesting concept.
jackiethewitch t1_j261j5a wrote
> I just thought it was an interesting concept.
It was. Interesting enough that I was very bothered by not understanding it.
So it's supposed to be something of a mystery -- some supernaturalquantum mythological horror being.
Surinical t1_j261peb wrote
Yes, that's what I intended, for the reader to be confused alongside the protagonist
QuinticSpline t1_j26sop5 wrote
>So the coyote is what causes that hurry up and close the door feeling we get sometimes when it's dark and quiet.
... did you just curse us all?
GalaxyTachyon t1_j28gc03 wrote
Sounds like a Tindalos hound, or subconsciously inspired by it. A canine hidden in the depth of spacetime.
bigloser42 t1_j26ulxg wrote
Not a reference to real science that you know of. Those of us that have unlocked the deep mysteries of quantum mechanics know better, and we all turn away to avoid going mad.
GalaxyTachyon t1_j28g6hd wrote
In a way, Lovecraft was right. The true reality of the universe is maddening. Quantum mechanics is just the first glimpse we have into the depth of the truth. Imagine what else we will see later on, and what kind of things lie at the bottom of the abyss.
Right now it almost takes a madman to comprehend and work with QM. I think we literally need a real mad man to go beyond it.
Physix_R_Cool t1_j26spu0 wrote
>and the scientific accuracy of the explanation and the coin.
It's not that accurate though. Even though the coin is in a superposition, all the individual states will still fall, so there's no reason that the coin should be hanging in the air.
jackiethewitch t1_j28t960 wrote
Username checks out!
You're right. The coin should have fallen. On both sides. And its edge.
Physix_R_Cool t1_j28yf1e wrote
In real actuality the coin would just act as a normal classical object, since the environment will act as observer.
Fontaigne t1_j26anih wrote
>Dale looked at me[, ] baffled[, ] then all around.
>Dale stuck a hand through its face as it sniffed him to scratch his beard.
Looks like it's sniffing him to scratch his beard. Perhaps move the reason earlier?
>Dale moved to scratch his beard, and stuck a hand through its face where it was sniffing him.
>Don't show it [that] you can see it.
HardcoreMandolinist t1_j26x4e3 wrote
>Dale scratched his beard, his hand moving through its face as it sniffed him.
Fontaigne t1_j2di1h9 wrote
That's better, yes.
farnsmootys t1_j26rl9f wrote
> "What?" he said. "You're helping me clean this up, you know?"
I had to re-read the end a few times to understand.
Originally I thought Dave was like a Men-In-Black sort of agent whose sidekick is the Coyote Mummy and the twist is that they're here to sus out and "clean up" the anomalous protagonist.
But if I'm reading this correctly, Dave can't actually see the Coyote Mummy and when he says "clean this up", Dave's just talking to the protagonist about the spilled drink.
Surinical t1_j26tnop wrote
Correct
MagicTech547 t1_j25dwa1 wrote
Nice!
MrRedoot55 t1_j25xu8q wrote
Good job.
Horny4theEnvironment t1_j26l5xy wrote
You paint a really good picture! It was like watching a show in my head
Th3Glutt0n t1_j27q3zo wrote
Well I wasn't expecting sci-fi to horror in this, but for some reason it doesn't surprise me
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments