It was quite the paradox!
Would have made more sense with Daffy and Donald
Shroedinger’s cat is a paradox, but what does Pavlov’s dog bring to the joke? There’s no mention of bells or operant conditioning or anything like that. It seems like the “joke” is just that they’re both animals related to scientific concepts
Pavlov and Schrödinger bump into each other:
- I trained my dog to play dead.
- Genius!
Schrödinger and Fermi bumped into each other once. It was quite the pair o’ Docs!
Don’t get it. Suspect it doesn’t actually make sense.
This joke combines the concepts associated with Pavlov and Schrödinger, two famous scientists, creating a clever wordplay that also references their respective experiments.
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Pavlov: Known for his classical conditioning experiment with dogs. He rang a bell before feeding dogs, conditioning them to salivate whenever they heard the bell.
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Schrödinger: Famous for the thought experiment Schrödinger’s Cat, where a cat in a box is simultaneously alive and dead until observed. This illustrates a paradox in quantum mechanics about the nature of superposition.
The Joke:
When Pavlov and Schrödinger “bumped into each other,” two things happen at once, creating the humor:
Pavlov’s reaction: If something unexpected happens (like bumping into someone), the event might “trigger” a conditioned response — such as Pavlov salivating because he’s used to the bell.
Schrödinger’s paradox: The joke suggests that before observation, they are both aware and unaware of bumping into each other, akin to Schrödinger’s cat being alive and dead.
The Punchline: “It was quite the paradox!”
The joke itself is a paradox because it humorously combines Pavlov’s predictable conditioning with Schrödinger’s uncertainty, two contradictory ideas.
The wordplay is clever because “paradox” not only describes Schrödinger’s cat but also the confusing situation of this fictional encounter.
Uhh… this analysis makes no sense at all. And now OP has admitted that the joke doesn’t make sense and doesn’t work. Still, just for edification:
Pavlov’s reaction: If something unexpected happens (like bumping into someone), the event might “trigger” a conditioned response — such as Pavlov salivating because he’s used to the bell.
There was no conditioned response.
The wordplay is clever because “paradox” not only describes Schrödinger’s cat but also the confusing situation of this fictional encounter.
There was no confusion.
It both makes sense and doesn’t at the same time but eventually the punchline might ring a bell.
Being mysterious doesn’t help me I’m afraid. Still don’t get it. The punchline doesn’t make sense and doesn’t ring a bell.
The fact that you haven’t just explained the joke makes me think you can’t because it doesn’t work as a joke. Right?
They are doctors who have paradoxical theories (pair of docs) but after some research Pavlov’s theory of conditioning is not a paradox so the site I ripped this joke off of may have used the wrong doctor.
Pavlov’s dogs and Schrodinger’s cat?
There’s something there, I think, but it doesn’t land as is.
I sat on it for a while and came up with this:
Pavlov and Schrodinger were flying together to a Thinker’s Convention. Their plane lost power and, in effort to make a safe landing, the pilot dumped their cargo.
For citizens below, it was raining cats and dogs.
