Milburn’s cat is not famous but is 1) real, and 2) perfectly cast in the central role of a simple, easily grasped analogy.

Schrödinger’s cat sits forever in its closed box, waiting for the capricious, fateful behavior of 1) one quantum particle, and 2) one observer who at some point is to open the box and see whether said feline is alive or dead.

Milburn’s cat, whose name is Wuss, is quite alive. Wuss occupies—and is restricted to—a house, a rather larger house, which she—not always agreeably—shares with her human staff.

As befits one of her standing, she has the run of the house, which has windows on all sides. Many of the windows have objects—desks, tables, beds—near them at a height ideal for sitting on and looking out of.

Which is what Ms. Wuss does, all day and all night, except when she’s napping, eating, or tracking small intruders into her house.

Round and round she goes, from window to window. For reasons known only to Wuss, this window or that will become her favorite for a while—a day, a few days, a week, and you can usually count on finding her perched there.

Watching. Immobile. Often for an hour or more. Sitting, lying, watching.

What must Milburn’s cat conclude from such an existence?

Now that she "concludes" anything in the human sense. Maybe it’s better to ask, what does Ms. Wuss "perceive" about the nature of the world she inhabits?

Simple, isn’t it?

Milburn’s cat perceives that either it exists at the center of the world, or that the world extends so far outward in EVERY direction that "center" is a meaningless concept.

Milburn’s cat also perceives that things happen out there, strange things. "Trees" lose their "leaves" and then get them back. Large white objects float about in the "sky" and sometimes become dark and then water falls everywhere out there. Most astonishing, now and then a neighborhood cat saunters past. And so on.

If Milburn’s cat were cleverer, say as clever as human beings, she would think long and hard about her situation and what she observes in every directions as far as she can see.

Soon she would no doubt conjure up clever experiments to perform inside her house, and would on the results of those experiments concoct very clever theories to "explain" what she sees out her windows.

Would these activities make her a happier cat? No. But they would entertain her mind and, if she by chance she shares her house with other clever cats, she could fille many hours comparing notes and discussing variant theories.