So .. a superposition of states would really just be a point in time during which the state variable takes no specific value?
Or, it isn't so much that Schrodinger's famous cat is both alive and dead at the same time, as that it's neither?
The thing about the cat in the box is that, when you later open the box, it's some kind of cat that's revealed. You don't open the box to find a nice loaf of bread. I.e., seems like something must have some kind of state, in that box, when no one is looking, that retains at least the possible outcomes and precludes others.
By some interpretations, Schrodinger's equations describe epistemological state from a given (finite) perspective. So it's not so much that the cat is both alive and dead, it's that the best we can say is that it's alive or dead. This is referred to as "quantum Bayesianism" aka QBism (pronounced "cubism").
"Observer" just refers to anything that has a direct causal connection with the thing being "observed". No consciousness necessary (grr...). If something isn't being "observed" then for all intents and purposes it exists outside of our universe and any questions about it become fundamentally irrelevant.
That something is a relation between two systems, which determines or correlates with the state of the cat/box system, but that state is not independent of the second system (observer).
Or, it isn't so much that Schrodinger's famous cat is both alive and dead at the same time, as that it's neither?
The thing about the cat in the box is that, when you later open the box, it's some kind of cat that's revealed. You don't open the box to find a nice loaf of bread. I.e., seems like something must have some kind of state, in that box, when no one is looking, that retains at least the possible outcomes and precludes others.