A hypothetical experiment in which a cat kept in a closed box can be alive and dead at the same time – as long as nobody lifts the lid to take a look.
Family Vacation
Cherissa Griggonz looks down at the glossy white floor as she speaks to her husband.. “Honey, we’ve gone to the 2026 world cup for five years in a row, can't we go somewhere else?”
“What do you mean?” Xandar Griggonz says while typing numbers into the giant screen of his family rental time machine. “The kids love the games, and there are always new matches to see.”
Cherissa glances back at the happy kids, changing through their outfits and trying on different jerseys with the click of a button.
“Oh, alright- boys, let's get ready to jump, enough outfit changes.” Cherrisa steps on to the jump pad with her two kids and looks up at her husband, Xandar, while taking in the lovely view of their city as flying cars whizz past their window.
“Alright, everybody, let's get reeaady to rumble!” Xandar presses the last button, shoves the return pad into his backpack, and steps on the jump pad with his family.
A cloud of electricity surrounds the family as loose papers and pens around the room begin to float up in a surge of pure energy. With a snap of power, the items all fall to the ground, and the family is gone.
Four hundred years earlier, the four appear in an alleyway outside the GEODIS stadium in Nashville Tennessee, as crowds of raving fans wearing all types of flags pass by the street. There are no flying cars and no electric cloud of whirring and whooshing like back home. Just the screaming of thousands of fans from all around the world gathered to see their favorite footballer.
Cherissa turns around to see her sons using their handheld matter reconstructors to turn some trash from the alley into cheeseburgers. She quickly grabs the devices from her sons and looks around in a paranoid way.
“Boys, you know the rule about using tech when we are on vacation.”
“Come on Mom, we’re hungry.”
“Now, now, boys! There's nothing like the artery-clogging grease-packed food of the 21st century.” Xandar chimes in joyously. “Let’s go find some of that fast food.”
“Let’s do it!” And listen to your mother, he says with a wink my way.
Of course Xandar said fast food with some sarcasm because he knew that the family would have to wait in line for their food; something that was a true novelty coming from their home where all food was made by the instantaneous restructuring of atomic structure of matter. The four take off towards the stadium entrance, dodging the waves of drunk and disorderly football hooligans. The sun begins beating down on the Jetson boys.
“Can you turn the heat down, mum?” Little Gregarious asks.
“Honey, you know that we can't do that here.”
“What do you mean?” His little brother Arturedis chimes in.
“This was before humanity mustards quantum physics and learned how to enter space within the fifth dimension. We’re on the bare face of the planet right now.”
“You mean out in the open?”
“Exposed to the sun?”
“We’re in the year 2026, sweetheart, scientists haven't figured out much of anything at this point... All they knew was the face of the earth and what they observed.”
“Enough. Let’s get in the mood for some football!” Xandar says while handing the boy a corndog each.
“What is this?” One boy asks with disgust.
“It smells like poo.” The other says.
“It looks like poo on a stick.” The other says while the boys start laughing.
“Nonsense, it’s the food of the people. Plus one day of fried crap won't hurt us too bad, we’ll make sure to raise the nutrient content on our matter reconstructor when we get home. “Bon appetit!” He says with a bite.
Cherissa hears a giant engine revving with an old American flag hanging out either side of the back and her face goes sour. “Now there is one thing that I will never get used to about this century.”
“What’s that?” He asks while leaning over with a mouthful of fried meat and grease drizzling down his chin.
“Why on Earth did the old people ever think it was a good idea to burn dinosaurs for transportation?”
“It’s all means to an end, sweetie.” He says while polishing off his greasy wiener on a stick.
The group continues to walk towards the stadium, admiring the hordes of fans acting in a debaucherous way, at odds and ends about their favorite sports team. The whole idea of nationality truly was intriguing to the Griggonz’. After the need for resources was solved back in the 23rd century, the need for nationality was stunted and the world turned to intrinsic based globalization. When the group gets to their seats, they are all quite thrilled to be taking part in such a large-scale sporting event.
“What Is that smell, apa?”
“That is the smell of smoke, my boys. People during this time would smoke drugs to escape their realities.”
“It smells like burning garbage.”
“Before the times of free resources and time travel there was quite the lull in morale here on Earth.” Xandar says while chearingfor whatever team was making the game interesting.
“What does the smoke do, Apa?”
“Kills them.” He says plainly while fixated on the game.
“Why would they do that?”
“Who knows-uh” He cheers. “Maybe it's just that there are already too many people here.”
Little Gregarious thinks about all the strange things happening in this past world and mulls it over in his head for a while.
“Apa-”
“Yes, Greg?’
“How are we going to make it to this point from the point where we are back home?” He looks around. “It seems impossible to bridge that gap.”
“Nobody said it was going to be easy.” Xandar looks down at his boy and smiles. “But you just have to have faith.”