Schr+¦dinger implies multiverse [as long as you don't look in the box of course]

troll post turned into highly intelligent discussion... Now I've officially seen the most unlikely of events

Well then it seems, even if we do accept the many worlds theory, that the question falls into a sort of equivocation trap. In other words, when we say "possibility X is this and that and that, etc" we're using different definitions of "is" (before and after we check the box). Unless we want that definition to include every possible other world and all events/objects therein.

And once we do that, it seems all epistemic (knowledge-based) claims become meaningless, because even once you saw the cat as alive or dead, let's say alive, couldn't you also say the cat is dead (again, if we use the definition of "is" that includes all possible other worlds) because in another world it is, in fact, dead? Once you allow for that, all statements become meaningless since their exact opposite or any other variations would be true too.

Then I guess I'll never get it, because if you want to say it is both alive and dead at the same time, in this world, then to me that statement is just gibberish. The definitions don't allow it to be both at the same time in the same place. It just seems to me that you're talking about potential, in which case we should be using the words "could be".

And I'm not entirely sure it's a question of semantics, because it appears as if people are fine with accepting the contradiction.

The cat would say you are all wrong. From the cat's point of view, none of you exist until some force opens the box.