That’s what a sign at the entrance to a local supermarket’s car park asks you to do. We saw a parallel with the classic 2-slit experiment and decided to give it a go…
The road into our Sainsbury’s
Became two lanes, not one.
“Use both lanes”, said the signage – well,
We’ll try – it could be fun!
We’re like a lone electron,
Approaching a two-slit plate:
You cannot tell which way it goes
In its superpositional state
(So quantum theory says)
Until it decoheres
And emerges at the other side –
The electron reappears!
So we’ll drive ahead and hope
That quantum rules apply…
Oh dear, we cannot do it,
However hard we try!*
So, Sainsbury’s, if you like us,
Please let us use the middle.
Otherwise we’ll turn around
And try our luck at Lidl…
- That’s because, in quantum terms, we’re much more complex than a single, isolated, electron.