Serendipity String Traps 

Alina Gînsac

What lives in a name?
Quantum strings I yearn to twist...
Hungry minds covet, weave.

The Science

This haiku was triggered by a name similarity and inspired by a combination of confirmation bias and quantum entanglement. Specifically, how the human mind sometimes attributes magical value to coincidence (serendipity). When one strongly desires for something to be true, one’s mind has the extraordinary capacity of bending objective reality to fit the desired frame - in this case, ‘feeling’ a sort of string connecting oneself to a far away particle (the central object of the desired reality). Confirmation bias, therefore, resembles a self-laid ruse, much like a string trap for catching birds.

The Poet

Alina is an aspiring science writer with a burning passion for stellar science and a deep appreciation for the art of engaging in science to understand the makings of our existence. She occasionally dabbles in doodles and haikus, for creative exercise.

Next poem: Silent white by Alwyn Marriage