When we make a sudden decision it seems that only one choice, out of multitude of subconscious possibilities, takes conscious form. Likewise, when an observer checks on the health of Schrodinger's quantum cat, it seems as if nature must choose between a dead cat or a live cat. Mathematician Roger Penrose has gone further to propose that the brain really is a quantum computer. Quantum physicists, however, largely ignored it as too speculative to be worth testing with numerical calculations. When faced with Schrodinger's cat, beginning physics students flail around, seeking some sort of explanation for the conundrum in terms of their everyday experience.
None is ever forthcoming, for quantum theory is like nothing they've ever seen before.
Koans likewise frustrate conventional thinking and conditioned responses. Both types of stories illuminate surprising truths about the universe and our place in it. Brad Marston's Labrador retriever requested this essay.