Schroedinger's Fix

"I think we fixed it!"

Ah, blessed words from across the dinner table.

Over the past few days, all I had been getting from my husband over our shared meals was "I still can't make heads or tails of it. I don't know why this is broken". For context, my husband is a developer, he was trying to fix a tool for his job, and it had been slow-going.

Anyway, he left the dinner table with "hmmm...I guess I'll commit that fix and see what happens".

Watching him go, it struck me how much his situation reminds me of Schroedinger's Cat. At dinner, the problem was fixed and not fixed at the same time. As long as the code was not committed, my husband got to feel like he had solved the problem without actually knowing whether the fix would work.

I wonder whether he felt tempted to delay the commit just to enjoy the feeling of “maybe-things-are-fixed” for a while longer. What if it doesn't work? Then he’d have to keep slugging through the jungle of “things that don’t work”.

Perhaps, best not to check things in before tomorrow morning and get a good night's sleep?

Maybe just leave it at that?

Ah, the temptation!

Of course, Schroedinger's Fix doesn't only happen in computer programming. It happens everywhere.

It is the question we never ask because we might get rejected.

It is when we concoct elaborate dream scenarios of our most recent crush, living out a full relationship in our mind without ever just asking them for a date. As long as we don't ask, the relationship is still possible. Everything we dream up is still on the table.

Schroedinger's Fix is the piece of work we never show the world because if we do not show it, then we can still dream that people will find it amazing.

Schroedinger's Fix allows us to feel good about the work we did or the crush we have without having to find out if our mental projections will survive a collision with reality.

It allows us to extend the rewarding feeling of "I have made it up the mountain" without having to jump and see if we can fly.

It feels good.

But it’s a trap.

If my husband does not commit his fix, his tool is going to be broken for longer. Perhaps, things will break even more and there will be even more to fix. The pain will only grow.

Likewise, if we don't take the leap to see if we fall or fly, we will still be here tomorrow. And the pain will only get worse.

Better to collide with reality right now and see if we make it out the other side.

Nevermind Schroedinger.

Deploy your fix.