I started watching Dark Matter and the professor is there explaining Schrodinger's Cat to a college class like no one ever watched The Big Bang Theory or Steins;Gate or Dark or played Portal or ever heard that reference from dozens of pop culture sources before, because every major franchise in the last 10 years decided to go "Multiverse" and shit, so it's everywhere, and shows trying to show how into science they are, like so nerd and you are getting so smart and hearing about these so obscure theories that makes you so big brain, they make a section just to tell you about Schrodinger's Cat.

I feel like this used to be E = mc², I can't pin-point sources but I feel like every average movie when the professor was talking sciences they would be teaching E = mc², like knowing the formula exists is such a brainy thing that get your intellect so high you'd even qualify to watch Rick and Morty, like someone asked you if you knew anything about sciences you just be like "E = mc²" and *BOOM* take that, bitch! *supa hot fire gif ensues*. It was in cartoons like Animaniacs, Ghost Busters, probably Freakazoid, the Mask, etc, you had a few songs mentioning, like hip-hop playing with the words "MC squared". My memory is more of 80s and 90s pop culture but I watched later the 1965 Godard movie Alphaville and to show how hard into sciences it was there was random graffiti of E = mc² all around the place, like a gang of hardcore scientist thugs committing vandalism because sciences 4 life.

tl/dr it's a hard science concept adopted by pop culture that is repeatedly repeated and people with no real science knowledge will repeat them to sound smart.

E = mc^2^ was always normie shit, you need at least know E^2^ = (pc)^2^ + (mc^2^)^2^ to qualify for Rick and Morty.

Don't forget the wormhole explanation of folding a piece of paper and passing a pencil through it.

I remember an old tweet of a guy saying that in college the professor asked if anyone had heard of Pavlov and he said "it rings a bell" and was sad no one laughed and he was too smart for that class... but I bet everyone just rolled their eyes at how basic he was.

Sam Niel did it best.

I read the book and it was okay, not great but not bad. I feel like a show could be fun, is it any good?

Don't talk to me unless you know E=mc^2^+AI

I once had a guy at a party claim that Einstein didn't really understand what E=mc² meant.

I broke it down, and explained it. He thought I was bluffing when I said "c is the constant"

"The constant what?"

"The universal constant"

"See, you don't even know"

"The speed of light"

"Yeah I don't think Einstein would use the letter C to refer to light"

I guess I was beaten by experience, yet again.

I felt the same way about the book, and the show is fine as well. The story closely follows the book until the very end of Season 1. There’s more characterization, and we get to see how Jason1’s wife is faring with Jason2, but the pacing feels a bit slow. Also, I just don’t like the look of Jason’s face.

Season 2 is currently airing, and while it’s nice not knowing what will happen, I’m still not thrilled about it.

I would argue schrodingers cat is more annoying because most people don’t understand it at all and think it was an actual thought experiment vs a critique on the ridiculousness of superposition

The most "trust me bro" of all the bros. 🫠

Schrodinger's experiment dates from 1935. Anyone that still thinks the cat is alive close to 100 years later is a blatant fool. Just open the box already.

It’s not like the average person had any idea how E=MCC worked either. They just knew the formula.

I've moved on from Schrodinger's Cat, all my friends are talking about dinosaur bones in a parking garage.

Any other equation from physics would impress me more than knowing E = mc^2^. Even something basic as F = ma.

90% of Americans think Einstein made the atomic bomb. He wasn't even allowed near New Mexico.

Schrödinger's Cat is the new E = mc²

Maybe.

I still dont understand it. How in the hell can you multiply matter by the speed of light?

I mean sure it works, and the scientists understand it, and its transformed our entire species into a new era and so on but seriously what the fuck are you talking about Einstein? Have a day off.

I've felt similar in the past but I've come to see it more as trying to spark interest.
as a child of the 90s the thing that got me into the sciences was how cool it was portrayed in the media, from bill nye to movies like hackers.

make science and education cool again!

I dropped the series at episode 4. Overused theme, I found the approach pretty generic, and I was frustrated by bad logic and dumb characters.

Good correction, but it doesnt make it any less baffling

It is and isn't.

You divide distance by time to get speed of your car and that feels completely natural. But if you think about it, it’s equally as baffling as multiplying mass with speed.

A critique that doesn't take into account that there is a direct observer inside the box: the cat.

No need to repeat the Scopes Trial - we all know how that ends.

It is and isn’t.

Only when it doesn't matter because there's no observer. Once observed it's one or the other.

I know that it means energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, but I still don't really understand what that means

I still don't really understand what that means

Don't worry, neither did Einstein

But seriously:

When Einstein implies implies "energy = mass", he means it literally.

Mass inherently holds energy by existing.