We’re off to see a movie!
So, an email came around last week that the campus cinema was seeking some knowledgeable physicists (or even just physicists) to be part of a panel for a post-movie session. The movie? Independently produced “What the (bleep) do we know?!” Given that I’m keen on science communication, I thought I’d volunteer so they finally got back to me today (a week later…) saying they’d be interested. So I’m off to see the movie this afternoon before the Q&A session on Sunday. In the meantime, I checked out the movie’s website as well as the always helpful Wikipedia page.
I won’t say too much more at this point, but it certainly looks like I’ll have plenty of material to discuss at the panel. Basically, these guys belong to a weird cult society where a 35,000 year old warrior from Atlantis named “Ramtha” speaks through a Ms. “JZ Knight”. We’re talking seriously weird. From what I’ve read so far, they misrepresented the only serious scientist, are babbling about “infecting the quantum field” and generally giving science a bad name.
Of course, I can understand why they do it - mention quantum mechanics, and you gain instant scientific credibility for your spiritual beliefs. Maybe. So I feel it my bound and solemn duty to try and convince people to take all this with a grain of salt. Of course, I haven’t even seen the movie yet - and despite what my other physicist friends say, it might be worthwhile. Guess you’ll all find out on Monday what I thought! 
Marie Says:
Hi Joel,
Thanks for your recent comment on my blog about the movie, “What the (bleep) do we know?!” I see your point about inaccuracies and misconceptions in the movie. What do you think of Gary Zukov’s book, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters?” How’s that hold up factually. What do you recommend for non-physics students who are interested in the topic?
Joel Says:
Hi Marie!
I just happened upon your post as I was doing a little digging! I haven’t read Gary Zukov’s book, although from a little bit of Googling, it sounds like it has fairly sound physics, fairly sound spiritualism/religion, but is a bit hazy at combining the two.
It’s very popular at the moment to try and combin spiritualism with quantum mechanics, but I don’t think at the moment anyone’s going to succeed; I don’t think quantum mechanics is ready to address issues of life after death or anything like that. I think that we should encourage discussion of philosophy and physics, but be careful not to stretch analogies too far…
If you’re interested in QM or physics in general, I’d suggest going to your local bookstore and picking up a popular science book - Ian Stewart and Paul Davies are both excellent, but there are many out there. Browse through a few and pick one ou find easy to read, or check out the library.
If you’re interested in the role of quantum mechanics in consciousness and life, then you might want to read a nice article written by respected physicist Paul Davies, which outlines the state of research. It’s not overly technical, and if you just ignore the bits that are it should still be entertaining. Lots of serious physicists are doing serious research on quantum consciousness (Roger Penrose is one, who incidentally wrote a book recently called “Road to Reality” which purports to cover the whole of modern physics in an easy to read fashion. I haven’t summoned the strength to finish it, myself.) Unforutnately, there’s also a lot dubious physicsists who aren’t doing particuarly enlightening research, but they generally have an axe to grind, and are out to “prove” it using physics.
I’ll have a few posts over the next couple of days describing my views on the movie and how the Q&A session goes, if you’re interested and around!
Dave Barry Says:
I recall one person describing Penrose’s ideas thus:
“The human mind is mysterious and we don’t understand it. Quantum mechanics is weird and we don’t understand it. Therefore, they must be related.”
Not having read Penrose’s work, I’m sure that’s exaggerating, but I agree with the sentiment.
Joel Says:
Just so we’re clear, that’s an argument against Penrose’s ideas?
I’m not really convinced by it, either - the more I read about quantum mechanics and its role in biology, the less I can believe that it plays a role in consciousness. The decoherence times (before quantum mechanics can’t matter any more) are just so short in most situations that to actually get a quantum signal to move around the brain is surely impossible. Then again, the body is a pretty amazing thing…
Marie Says:
Thanks for your advice Joel! I’ll check back to read your posts on the movie. Honestly, it’s not everyday that I hear from an Australian physics student– so it’s kind of cool.
Dave Barry Says:
Yes, I realised after posting that it might be interpreted the wrong way. It is indeed an argument against Penrose’s ideas.
Dave Barry Says:
Joel, in both of my comments I’ve clicked on “Reply to this comment” but it hasn’t been threaded. I don’t know what’s going on. My first comment got a “Slow down cowboy…” message, and my second one triggered the spam filter and I had to type in a few characters to get the comment in.
Joel Says:
Okay, that’s mighty weird! The threading seems to be working okay for me - I’ll try and do some tests this afternoon and get back to you. What browser & OS are you using?
As for the spam filter, the “Slow down cowboy…” message is probably because you hit “submit” quickly after hitting “reply” (since it was a short comment). I might try and tweak it, but it helps against automated bots. I’m not sure why your next comment got “Captcha”-d, which is what the authentication scheme thingy was. I guess the filter doesn’t trust your for some reason! 
I’ll see if I can work out what triggered it, but again it’s a necessary evil, I guess.
I’ll get back to you
Actually I think Ramtha or JZ Knight or whavever his/her/it name is had the most interesting things to say in the movie! I think maybe that’s because all the others in the movie try to base their beliefs on quantum theory, whereas Ramtha just says some happy feel good stuff. JZ Knight is also far more charismatic than the others in the movie.
See if you can spot the scientist who is literally lying: i.e. even he knows that he’s spouting gibberish.