The Wavefunction Theory of Shipping

This is what happens when I read LJ after going to a scientific conference and see a rather vitroic anti-rivalling-ship essay on a ship community (I will name names if any of you care).

If any of you know quantum mechanics, you know things aren't black and white. Classically we can say.. for example, my astronomy professor is at home, in his office, at the observatory, etc. He is in one of those locations. He cannot be in two places at once. Quantum mechanically speaking, he can be in all of those until someone sees him, which 'collapses the wavefunction'. Each place has a probability of him being observed there. So, quantum mechanically speaking, it's highly unlikely that the Spirit rover will take a picture of him on Mars, but it's not impossible. The only reaosn this is a confusing idea is because normally quantum effects are so small they don't work on astronomy professors.

Anyway, it occured to me that shipping in fandom is kind of like that. Each character has a probability function (based on such factors as canon interactions, personality, history, culture, etc.) that determines the ship (if any) s/he ends up in in any given fanwork. This is ignoring observer biases (like character or type of pairing preference) of course. Each fanfic is an observation -- it collapses the wavefunction to one set of shipping conditions -- although, unlike wavefunctions, characters can be (rarly) shipped with multiple partners in the same fic (perhaps it's a special state) .

Now, the points of this are that:
1) No pairing is impossible
2) Some pairings are highly improbable

Now, under this theory, you can't exactly say 'this pairiing cannot work'. You CAN say 'this pairing would be very difficult to work, and unless you are damn innovative, you probably wouldn't be able to pull it off'.

Of course, there are 'classical' pairings -- pairings that have become so highly probable that finding non-classical behavior in them is uncommon -- you know them as canon pairings.

God, I need to graduate.

(no subject)

So, I managed to use my graduation gown 200% as much as the average college student -- I had to attend the Honors convocation in it. I am a Superior Scholar apparently -- I wish I hadn't gotten A-'s in Physics II and Honors Modern Algebra, as then I would have been a Chancelor's Scholar (read: 4.0 GPA at graduation) and probably the only physics one in as long as I've been at the university (though Masatoshi, my coworker, will make it if he keeps it up). Insert long rant about the disproportionate grades of students of equal skill in their majors here.

Dad and my stepmother, Marjorie (who got a professor award at the same ceremony), and I went out to The Oven for dinner -- it wasn't bad (it was the first time I had Indian food), but it proves that, once again, I need to build up my tolerance for spicy foods (I do love curry, but I can't eat it without large quantities of rice/potatoes/starchy stuff)

Meme -- spread the love!

Stolen from eiviiaru

Comment here with your name and I'll tell you something I adore (or at least mildly like) about you. Afterwards, copy and paste this into your own journal.