Cliffy died in 2010, but I did not know that until last
week. Until then he was still alive to me.
I liked him, had not heard from him in many years and, as I have done so
many times before, went looking for him online.
The adage holds true, be careful what you ask for. I want to add, be
careful what you look for.
I am the North American representative for INACH (International Network Against Cyber Hate), an accomplished internet investigator and researcher,
and usually find what I am looking for - eventually. We have all searched for people from our past
who mean something to us. Helping others in this way, and with other online
challenges, is extremely rewarding. When all the digging through endless piles
of online manure is done, we sometimes find a pony, sometimes a rhinoceros, and
sometimes tears.
People disappear for any number of reasons. There is no way
to totally disappear, but with a little effort and time, you can get close. When
someone does not want to be found, you should respect that. When they have
disappeared, not by choice, you must respect that. There are always exceptions, but they all
come at a price.
Until last week, Cliffy was both alive and dead. Something
called superposition. That is the
essence of the Schrödinger’s
Cat thought experiment. When I found Cliffy, opened the reality of things
on the internet, the reality of the two possibilities collapsed. Cliffy was
indeed dead.
The internet acts like Schrödinger’s box, holding the truth
of different realities but requiring an act of will to open it up and find the
reality.
I do not think Schrödinger liked cats. I do not think he
gave much thought to the cat. It was all about the box and the experiment.
I do not think the internet industry likes us. It
historically has not given much thought to the people inside the internet. Internet
users have, for far too long, been secondary to the internet itself and the
experiment of all the stuff inside. The internet companies own the boxes on the
internet and can decide to collapse the possibilities of information and help
determine the reality, if they are brave enough.
This is the great conundrum of science and commerce. What
comes first, the experiment or the cat; the totality of possibilities of
information or the reality.
Schrödinger’s cat is not a real cat. Schrödinger’s box is
not a real box. It was never meant to be left closed. Superposition may be
real, but it is not reality. You only get reality when you open the box and
feed the cat or bury it.
I do not like that Cliffy is gone, but that is the reality.
To change reality is to fictionalize it.
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