The Uncertainty Principle of Tweeting, a story

Steve was a theoretical physicist with a post doctorate degree. He was also a bit of a comic, and he loved to post funny things on his Twitter account, @UnlikelyBuddha

One day, Steve was browsing Twitter when he came across a post by a young mother. The post was about how her toddler had just learned the word "quantum," and he was now running around the house saying, "Quantum! Quantum!"

Steve found this post hilarious, and he retweeted it with the comment, "In a parallel universe, my toddler is running around the house saying, 'Buddha! Buddha!'"

His girlfriend, who was a PhD in animal behavior, saw his tweet and laughed. "That's funny," she said. "But in a parallel universe, your toddler might not even be a toddler. He might be a cat, or a dog, or even a bird."

"That's true," said Steve. "In a parallel universe, anything is possible. My toddler could be anything."

"Even a theoretical physicist?" asked his girlfriend.

"Even a theoretical physicist," said Steve. "In fact, in a parallel universe, I'm sure there's a theoretical physicist who's just as funny as I am."

Steve and his girlfriend continued to talk about parallel universes, and they soon got into a discussion about the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics.

"The Many Worlds Interpretation says that every time a quantum event happens, the universe splits into multiple universes," said Steve. "So, in one universe, my toddler is running around the house saying 'Quantum! Quantum!' In another universe, he's a cat. And in yet another universe, he's a theoretical physicist."

"That's mind-boggling," said his girlfriend. "But it's also kind of funny. I mean, imagine if there was a universe where my toddler was a theoretical physicist. He'd probably be even more annoying than he is now."

Steve and his girlfriend laughed, and they continued to discuss the Many Worlds Interpretation for a while longer.

As they talked, they began to wonder what the future of Twitter would be like if it was renamed "Z."

"In a parallel universe, Twitter is called 'Z,'" said Steve. "And in that universe, I'm sure it's even more chaotic and hilarious than it is here."

"I can imagine," said his girlfriend. "In a parallel universe, Z is probably full of tweets about quantum cats and theoretical toddlers."

Steve and his girlfriend laughed again, and they continued to imagine what the future of Twitter would be like in a parallel universe.

    @UnlikelyBuddha