3076: The Roads Both Taken

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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

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 take only 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 but can instead take both simultaneously, resulting in probabilistic quantum superposition, and is left to contemplate the consequences of that choice. Quantum interference, referenced in the final line, is an effect of quantum superposition in which particles (including photons) interact with and influence themselves and other particles while in a superposition state.

The title text humorously makes a portmanteau out of 'photon' and 'FOMO' (Fear Of Missing Out), the concern over lost opportunities from choosing one path over another or choosing neither.

This comic was posted on April 14, World Quantum Day.

Original stanza 1	Parody
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;

In the original, the human narrator, operating at the scale of classical mechanics, contemplates the necessary choice between two mutually exclusive paths. In the parody, the photon, operating at the scale of quantum mechanics, readily explores both paths. At quantum scale, the "roads" and "yellow woods" are metaphorical.

The original contains two additional stanzas about choosing which road to take and sticking with that choice, which did not make it into the parody version.

Original stanza 4	Parody
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.

In the original, the human narrator reflects subjectively on the (anticipated?) impact of the choice of road - whether for good or ill is not explicitly stated. In the parody, the photon states objectively the result (quantum interference) of taking both paths at once.

The parody maintains the same rhyme scheme as the original, ABAAB. In the fourth line of the last stanza, "recombined" doesn't perfectly rhyme with "sigh" and "I", but it shares the vowel in the last syllable, a form of assonance, and can be considered an imperfect rhyme. The third and fourth lines of the first stanza also don't perfectly rhyme since the rhyming words are the same (this is instead called an identical rhyme).

Transcript

[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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Discussion

I just saw on Google's Doodle: "...today’s Doodle shows an illustration of quantum superposition. April 14 is World Quantum Day, and this year is also the International Year of Quantum — celebrating 100 years since the discovery of quantum mechanics." https://blog.google/technology/research/world-quantum-day-doodle-superposition-thaumatrope/ --PRR (talk) 05:25, 15 April 2025 (UTC)

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)

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,

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.

youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk 06:48, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

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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