Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass.
And as he stares into the sky, there
are twice as many stars as usual.
Fun fact: according to our models the photon doesn't exactly travel in a straight line and hit the eye of the cow. It's a probability wave that spreads out spherically across an astronomical range. It might as well "hit" Mars instead of the Earth. What actually happens is that the huge wave randomly interacts with the eye of the cow. At that time the probability collapses into a certainty (the photon), making it impossible for the wave to interact with anything elsewhere in the universe.
Edit: or if you subscribe to the many-worlds interpretation, the wave interacts with both Mars and the Earth. When the wave reaches the eye of the cow, a new series of waves ripple out. They contain the effects of a photon interaction, but the original (standing) wave before the interaction also remains. We can make a slice of the multiverse in which the cow's brain perceives the photon, and another slice in which there was no interaction and the cow didn't see it. Because of how consciousness is tied to a single chain of events, the cow as a matter of experience doesn't both see and not see the photon. Rather it's as if there are two separate experiences that exist independent of each other.
You have a point, buuut: photons don't experience time or distance. Leaving the star and hitting the bull's eye happen in the same instant for them, no matter how many billions of light years apart they are. From the point of view of the photon, the bull's eye is touching that star in that other galaxy. For just that single instant in time.
Oooh it's a bull's-eye! I was getting all sentimental with the twinkle in the eye and how even cows appreciate beauty... It's a freaking pun 😂
I'm glad you said something! What a great conclusion to his comic.
I totally missed that. Honestly, it's a solid comic without the pun, but that kicks it up another level! Love it
Iv always loved the idea of animals enjoying beauty.
Your comment is a great example of an animal enjoying beauty.
Studies have shown bears will stop and enjoy the scenery from time to time.
There's absolutely no reason to believe otherwise.
It's 20 years for us, but for the photon, no time passes from being ejected from the photosphere to hitting the cow's retina.
Relatively speaking.
Reminds me of a relatively funny joke:
Why do photons have insomnia? Because they have no rest frame.
That's what's so weird about us humans.
We can write beautiful poetry about cows, then eat them.
That's because humans can turn their empathy off when something is normalised by society.
This, and the image accompanied by it, were one of the things that broke me when I was younger.
I legit cried because it was so beautifully put together.
That is beautiful. Thank you.
Fun fact: according to our models the photon doesn't exactly travel in a straight line and hit the eye of the cow. It's a probability wave that spreads out spherically across an astronomical range. It might as well "hit" Mars instead of the Earth. What actually happens is that the huge wave randomly interacts with the eye of the cow. At that time the probability collapses into a certainty (the photon), making it impossible for the wave to interact with anything elsewhere in the universe.
Edit: or if you subscribe to the many-worlds interpretation, the wave interacts with both Mars and the Earth. When the wave reaches the eye of the cow, a new series of waves ripple out. They contain the effects of a photon interaction, but the original (standing) wave before the interaction also remains. We can make a slice of the multiverse in which the cow's brain perceives the photon, and another slice in which there was no interaction and the cow didn't see it. Because of how consciousness is tied to a single chain of events, the cow as a matter of experience doesn't both see and not see the photon. Rather it's as if there are two separate experiences that exist independent of each other.
Wow, none of what you're saying is really new information to me but it's put together in a way that is really interesting to think about. Thank you
… do some of us go on the journey with the cow who sees the light and others on the journey with the cow how doesn’t?
Or are we already on the path with the cow and our other is on the path with their cow?
It's more like we are on both paths at the same time.
This is just the law of really big numbers.
Something literally astronomical relative to something subatomic is necessarily going to happen.
A Star is really really big but more importantly it produces a more than a lot of photon's
Even better: traveling at light speed means that from their point of view it takes zero time to get there.
I am so glad others have this thought. I look at stars and realize that particular particle hit my eye from that far away.
It seems very sure that it's a light particle... I like those vibes.
Bulls on farms rarely stick around for 20 years. Also, how did it account for 20yrs of movement of an unpredictable life form?
You have a point, buuut: photons don't experience time or distance. Leaving the star and hitting the bull's eye happen in the same instant for them, no matter how many billions of light years apart they are. From the point of view of the photon, the bull's eye is touching that star in that other galaxy. For just that single instant in time.
Its not light years, but approximately 8 light minutes.
The light is not from our sun, but another star. Its nighttime for the cow.
OK, youre right. Misinterpreted the comic.
C'mon you of all people should appreciate this.
For the particle itsself it's even instantaneous!
The math is wrong but the intent is beautiful
Edit: I misread oops but I do think the comic is very beautiful still
It's not our Sun but a different star 20 light years away.
As is evidenced by the fact it's night time
Technically it could be our Sun, and they're an alien species of cow-like beings on their own planet far away from Earth.
Oopsie I read it as the other photon said just a single light year away, my b
We don't know what star they're on.
Oopsie I read it as the other photon said just a single light year away, my b