3076: The Roads Both Taken
| The Roads Both Taken |
 Title text: When you worry that you're missing out on something by not making both choices simultaneously by quantum superposition, that's called phomo. |
Explanation
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This explanation is incomplete: Simultaneously created by and not created by SCHRÖDINGER'S LYRICIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
This comic is a parody of the first and fourth stanzas of Robert Frost's 1915 poem "The Road Not Taken". The joke is that, while the human narrator of Frost's poem (presumably Frost himself), confronted with two paths, could only take one of them, and is left to contemplate the consequences of his choice, the photonic narrator of the parody, thanks to quantum physics, is not compelled to choose one path over the other, and is left to contemplate the consequences of that choice.
The title text humorously conflates FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), the human concern over lost opportunities from choosing one path over another (or choosing neither) with PHOMO (presumably PHOton Missing Out), the photonic concern over lost opportunities from choosing both paths at once, instead of one only, or none.
This comic was posted on April 14, World Quantum Day.
| Original stanza | Parody | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; |
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And so of course I traveled both Though be one traveler, still I could Explore down both as far as I could Beyond the bends in the undergrowth; |
This may be possible due to the fact that photons are light particles. |
| I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. |
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took them both and recombined, And that has made interference. |
The parody maintains the same rhyme scheme as the original, ABAAB, except for the fourth line of the last stanza. "recombined" doesn't rhyme with "sigh" and "I", although it shares the vowel in the last syllable (this is a form of assonance).
Transcript
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This transcript is incomplete: Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
- [A photon recites a poem:]
- Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
- And so of course I traveled both
- Though be one traveler, still I could
- Explore down both as far as I could
- Beyond the bends in the undergrowth...
- ...I shall be telling this with a sigh
- Somewhere ages and ages hence:
- Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
- I took them both and recombined,
- And that has made interference.
- [Caption below the panel:]
- Photon poetry
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- Added World Quantum Day to the article. Thanks. Nitpicking (talk) 13:25, 15 April 2025 (UTC)
I think "Photon poetry" is a reference to Vogon poetry in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (notoriously the worst poetry in the universe). 104.23.172.2 07:19, 15 April 2025 (UTC)
- Actually, vogon poetry is 3rd worst, but I see your point and shared the same thought process. I think this should be added into the article. 172.68.84.192 (talk) 05:21, 16 April 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Pretty sure the title text is a parody of a song lyric that I can't remember the original of. "When you something something something, that's something". Damn it, its on the tip of my tongue, but it isn't quite coalescing! 162.158.110.237 (talk) 09:56, 15 April 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- When a grid's misaligned with another behind, that's a moiré! 172.70.160.217 10:06, 15 April 2025 (UTC)]
- When the spacing is tight
- and the difference is slight,
- That's a moiré. DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 13:56, 15 April 2025 (UTC)
- I think it's more likely a slightly clunky way to reach the punchline that is a twist on photon-superposition-fomo being phomo Xseo (talk) 10:15, 15 April 2025 (UTC)
- The original was a hit for Dean Martin in 1953. Parodies featuring moray eels came later. I agree with Xseo that Martin's song is unlikely to have been an inspiration for the title text. 108.162.246.82 14:40, 15 April 2025 (UTC)
- My favorite is: When you make béchamel and throw cheese in as well that's a Mornay.172.69.246.135 01:59, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
- When it causes a stir in your social milieu, that's a more. 172.71.241.100 13:51, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
- When the eel's teeth are like saws,
- And on two pairs of jaws,
- That's a Moray... 172.70.91.129 15:03, 17 April 2025 (UTC)
- When it causes a stir in your social milieu, that's a more. 172.71.241.100 13:51, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
- My favorite is: When you make béchamel and throw cheese in as well that's a Mornay.172.69.246.135 01:59, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And I'm beginning to see why. 172.69.180.164 19:43, 15 April 2025 (UTC)
- funny you should say that. from Wikipedia,
youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk 06:48, 16 April 2025 (UTC)After Frost returned to New Hampshire in 1915, he sent Thomas an advance copy of "The Road Not Taken". Thomas took the poem seriously and personally, and it may have been significant in his decision to enlist in World War I. Thomas was killed two years later in the Battle of Arras.
The two paths and then combined to create interference is methinks an allusion to the double-slit experiment. The Yeti (talk) 20:06, 17 April 2025 (UTC)
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