Narada Moy, PhD, physics
"Whatta crackup! This book is the funniest :>) thing ever written on quantum theory. I had to chortle all the way through Dilbert space."

Book Description
Half of a hypothetical planet is on a world-wide web, the other half is not. The Reds try to understand the Blues (connected secretly) in terms of normal human behavior. They find that they behave like quantum particles. The Red Scientists eventually discover that the blues share information much as quantum Particles do. The story is a tongue-in-cheek allegory for the development of interpretations of quantum theory. Major players are Halbert Zweistein (Einstein), Stan Exciting (Neils Bohr), and Devon Baum (David Bohm)--the 'wizard of odds'.

From the Publisher
Don't miss a classic in the making. Dr. Petersen, physics professor, musician, and comic, gives us a work to stand alongside Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave' and a 'Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum'. This is new-science with a funnybone.

From the Author
You be a proton and I'll be an electron... We'll make some chemistry.

The publisher, Empyrean Quest Publishers , 12/28/97
Internet connectivity as an allegory for quantum holism.
"Dr. Petersen is a physics professor at the Utah State University who has taught astronomy and physics for seven years. His main interests are cosmology, writing, and music. He has written some books aimed at beginners in the physical sciences and astronomy, yet in this occasion, he presents us an interesting text that goes far beyond. Petersen appears specially fascinated by the interpretation of quantum theory, and he has worked hard to propose his own ideas in this respect. In The Quantum Particle Internet the author has built a fantastic story where he satirizes the utilization of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the history of quantum theory itself. In the book, a hypothetical civilization is re-created on a supposed planet Mearth where society is divided into two totally differentiated groups: The Blues, who live in Internet, and the Reds, who are outside the net. The author utilizes characters taken from real life (for instance, three scientists, Einstein, Bohm and Bohr), whom he has changed the name, so as to let them analyze the situation, in their own role as sociologists. The Blues act as quantum particles, and the Reds as normal humans that analyze the others, in the process elaborating a Quantum Theory of Blue Behavior. The three scientists discuss among themselves whether the Reds are also somewhat human, although united by computers, or whether in fact they cannot be understood in human terms. The development of the book is an allegory of the very history of Quantum Theory, with the confrontation of both extremes, the vision of the Reds as human (Blues) against the impression that they cannot be understood unless in terms of quantum wave functions. Petersen has found that internet is a good scenario for his allegory, since when we connect with the net we become a part of a whole, in information terms, whereas a quantum particle, when united to others, appears as being inseparable with respect to them when we try to measure them, as if it possessed a certain information on the status and behavior of the others. A really interesting work, given its originality, that will attract both physics students and the occasional readers who like new viewpoints." Manuel Montes, The Science Book Board.

Excerpted from The Quantum Particle Internet by P. Stephen Petersen. Copyright © 1997. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Chapter 5

Kermit Rosedinger (Schroedinger), as we have said, loved to study Blue nut cases. He was particularly interested in one incarcerated Blue who hated cats, and was known to strangle any cat he saw. Rosedinger had a cat and imagined what it would be like to risk her life by placing her in the room next door to this mass murderer. What if, he suggested, he were to leave her there for one hour, and the wacko had a 50% probability of penetrating through the wall. The cat also would have a 50% chance of remaining alive. However, Kermit pointed out that if the wave function was what was real, then the cat's wave function the moment before he entered the room would say the cat was 50% alive and 50% dead. Rosedinger thought that Copenhagen interpretation left something to be desired, because a cat was obviously either alive or dead. Baum (Bohm) was the first to make 'sense' out of this situation, pointing out that the wave function was only a pilot wave for the crazy Blue. The real question was: did the Blue penetrate the wall or not? The cat being alive or dead was decided at that point. Let's say penetration occurred. Devon claimed that the wave function for the non-penetrating Blue became inactive information when he and the wall participated in the event. Thus it was not true that the Blue had penetrated the wall and hadn't penetrated the wall at the same time. In that sense he was like other human beings (particles) and had a definite location. In this way even crazy Blues could share in the humanness of Reds.