Two fascinating movies about Quantum Physics

[manas]

[EDIT: Parts 1 and 2 are, imo, excellent and well researched. But in part three, the narrator departs from relating what is mostly the views of reputable physicists and neuroscientists, and goes off on his own tangent, trying to posit, afaics, a kind of Determinism. So, now that I have watched part 3, I am not quite so enthused about the movies as a whole, because I sense a disturbing agenda unfolding in the third. I don't recommend Part 3 on.]

It is actually a series of movies, and available on YouTube. It is still sinking in for me; there is much to digest. I suggest giving it a chance, as there is information here that will astound you. And it's all based on science, on scientific experiments that have been repeated and verified by reputable scientists:

[Cittasanto]

It is actually a series of movies, and available on YouTube. It is still sinking in for me; there is much to digest. I suggest giving it a chance, as there is information here that will astound you. And it's all based on science, on scientific experiments that have been repeated and verified by reputable scientists:

Your title is not describing the monty python movies and or hitchhikers guide to the universe there fore it is false advertising!

I recently got myself magazine with this as a cover story but am yet to read it.

[manas]

...
Your title is not describing the monty python movies and or hitchhikers guide to the universe there fore it is false advertising!

I recently got myself magazine with this as a cover story but am yet to read it.

It actually is mind blowing, and I hope a few people give it a chance. It does not contradict Buddhist tenets in any way. In fact some of the things they say - like that particles constantly 'pop in and out of existence' - seem to confirm some of the things the Buddha already knew millennia ago. Things are not what they seem!

As for the Hitch hikers' guide, thanks for reminding me. I ought to get a hold of a copy and introduce the kids to it. Was that the one with a super computer named, 'Deep Thought'? (It's been a while...)

[iforgotmyname]

Manas, agreed - this is some good stuff. I knew about the observer problem but didn't know the double slit experiment in such detail. Awesome video - and best part is cutting edge science doesn't require faith, yet it inspires you by making you rethink what you thought you knew! I love this stuff!

[manas]

Manas, agreed - this is some good stuff. I knew about the observer problem but didn't know the double slit experiment in such detail. Awesome video - and best part is cutting edge science doesn't require faith, yet it inspires you by making you rethink what you thought you knew! I love this stuff!

Glad you like it also. I feel surprised that this astounding, verifiable knowledge is not more widely known or discussed, outside of scientific circles. If more people knew about it, I think it would change what many people value in their lives, and thus their actions, for the better.

[manas]

Ugh. I just watched the third movie. The narrator was heading off into his own tangent. If I could sum up why I find it irritating, it is this notion: "the Infinite I conceives reality, the brain receives reality, and the physical mind perceives reality." It actually gets even worse than that. He says "stop trying to do Higher Self's job. You are not in control; your job is to respond to whatever experiences and situations that Higher self creates for you" and so on. He dismisses the idea that we need to improve ourselves. He seems to be espousing a kind of Determinism. So in the end, a tad disappointing!

Still respect the many eloquent physicists in the first two vids, though.

[iforgotmyname]

Good to know - I've only seen the first part. He did seem a little determined to push the whole holographic universe theory onto us.

[mikenz66]

I think it's a clue that Davis doesn't tell us anything about himself...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9538 ... ree-to-fly

Is this the same Steven Davis who wrote the possibly more interesting:
Hammer of the Gods, the Led Zeppelin Saga ?
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5865 ... f_the_Gods


Mike

[mikenz66]

Actually there seem to be at least two different authors named Stephen Davis.
Here's the one to do with this thread:
http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Davis/e/B ... _pel_pop_1

Seems like a nice guy, but not someone I'd take seriously as a commentator on modern physics...


Mike

[purple planet]

I dont know what i think- but no doubt the expirements of the double slit (which i knew of) and the before hapening brain response - are mind blowing

i watched part 1-2 and allmost all of three - i guess i dont want to get in to this cause i fear it might disturb my progress by making me have much more thoughts - especially doubts about my meditiation - but still i might have read about it or watched it in a whole but i allready wasted to much time on this i can spare an hour or two but not 6 -

i think its dangoureus for people who get convinced easily i myself am not sure exactly where it contradicts buddhism

about his biography see here : http://butterfliesfree.com/?page_id=102

this line caught my attention :

~ Commodore’s Staff Aide to L. Ron Hubbard in Scientology, and founder and first president of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE).

But im not judging only on that (if he left Scientology)- just another reason to doubt it all and if your practice of buddhist meditation is weak and you have lots of thoughts allready and have a concentration problem and doubt about buddhism maybe its best not watch it

the double slit expiremint might help you remove doubt by showing you there might be more to life :

Dr Quantum explains the Double slit experiment -
[video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMzh0gTTJI8[/video]

[Cittasanto]

...
Your title is not describing the monty python movies and or hitchhikers guide to the universe there fore it is false advertising!

I recently got myself magazine with this as a cover story but am yet to read it.

It actually is mind blowing, and I hope a few people give it a chance. It does not contradict Buddhist tenets in any way. In fact some of the things they say - like that particles constantly 'pop in and out of existence' - seem to confirm some of the things the Buddha already knew millennia ago. Things are not what they seem!

As for the Hitch hikers' guide, thanks for reminding me. I ought to get a hold of a copy and introduce the kids to it. Was that the one with a super computer named, 'Deep Thought'? (It's been a while...)

and just notice the name mistake

but how do you see the particles supporting/confirming Buddhist teachings?
I do enjoy science, and generally get magazines for my morning coffee based on a cover story I think may be relevant to Buddhism in some way.

[manas]

...
but how do you see the particles supporting/confirming Buddhist teachings?
I do enjoy science, and generally get magazines for my morning coffee based on a cover story I think may be relevant to Buddhism in some way.

I don't have a clear enough grasp of either Quantum Physics, or the Dhamma, to explain that properly as yet. I have a kind of hunch though. It is to do with the psychic powers that the Buddha and some advanced disciples of his were (or are) able to enact. If we see the mind and matter as two utterly different entites, with no link as it were, then it is hard to imagine how anyone could actually 'appear and vanish' or 'walk though walls' etc. But according to some physicists, mind and matter are related much more closely than we think. Even the act of observing quantum entites, changes them from behaving like waves, to behaving like particles. Observation changes 'reality'...Let's imagine that, unlike ordinary beings, the Buddha was able to actually see the world as waves, rather than only as particles. He could then manipulate this 'stuff' as he wished, because he was working with the waves before they had changed into particles, you know what I mean? Like he was that one step ahead, and so instead of the particles popping into existence according to kamma etc, he was able to control how or in what shape, texture or form the wave-soup was to coalesce into particle form.

lol I got to stop or my brain will melt!!! I'm not a physicist...this is just speculation here

metta

[manas]

I dont know what i think- but no doubt the expirements of the double slit (which i knew of) and the before hapening brain response - are mind blowing

i watched part 1-2 and allmost all of three - i guess i dont want to get in to this cause i fear it might disturb my progress by making me have much more thoughts - especially doubts about my meditiation - but still i might have read about it or watched it in a whole but i allready wasted to much time on this i can spare an hour or two but not 6 -

i think its dangoureus for people who get convinced easily i myself am not sure exactly where it contradicts buddhism

about his biography see here : http://butterfliesfree.com/?page_id=102

this line caught my attention :

~ Commodore’s Staff Aide to L. Ron Hubbard in Scientology, and founder and first president of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE).

But im not judging only on that (if he left Scientology)- just another reason to doubt it all and if your practice of buddhist meditation is weak and you have lots of thoughts allready and have a concentration problem and doubt about buddhism maybe its best not watch it

the double slit expiremint might help you remove doubt by showing you there might be more to life :

Dr Quantum explains the Double slit experiment -
[video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMzh0gTTJI8[/video]

Purple Planet, I totally agree...do not watch from part three on (I did write as much above already). It is indeed dangerous to lead people on with science initially, and when they trust you a little bit, they start this sort of theistic-fatalistic-determinism later on.

[Cittasanto]

I don't have a clear enough grasp of either Quantum Physics, or the Dhamma, to explain that properly as yet. I have a kind of hunch though.

I do like hunches

It is to do with the psychic powers that the Buddha and some advanced disciples of his were (or are) able to enact. If we see the mind and matter as two utterly different entites, with no link as it were, then it is hard to imagine how anyone could actually 'appear and vanish' or 'walk though walls' etc. But according to some physicists, mind and matter are related much more closely than we think. Even the act of observing quantum entites, changes them from behaving like waves, to behaving like particles. Observation changes 'reality'...Let's imagine that, unlike ordinary beings, the Buddha was able to actually see the world as waves, rather than only as particles. He could then manipulate this 'stuff' as he wished, because he was working with the waves before they had changed into particles, you know what I mean? Like he was that one step ahead, and so instead of the particles popping into existence according to kamma etc, he was able to control how or in what shape, texture or form the wave-soup was to coalesce into particle form.

lol I got to stop or my brain will melt!!! I'm not a physicist...this is just speculation here

metta

be careful about the speculation. and maybe examine your thinking to see if it aims in the right direction (or just round in circles)

[manas]

...
be careful about the speculation. and maybe examine your thinking to see if it aims in the right direction (or just round in circles)

Well...with regards to my speculation just above - does it aim at relinquishment, cessation, Unbinding...? Not really...

I probably ought to re focus on the Path with more ardour.

thanks for the admonishment

[iforgotmyname]

Guys, let me leave this here, I think you will like it:
http://htwins.net/scale2/

Neither like nor dislike this stuff over the top. For me, this kind of adds weight to certain beliefs I have to make them more true than others.

[manas]

Hi all,

thanks for your interest and comments. I'm having this topic locked, I just wanted to say that I wish to open a new topic, but this time I won't post anything until I have fully investigated where it is leading towards. I am still very interested in quantum physics, and will happily listen to what physicists have to say, but when the narrator (who is not a scientist) carted out that 'channel' in the third show, and started off on a kind of post new age, quasi theistic deterministic fatalism, I thought...yuk.

The Buddha is for human effort, human potential and human development. But this guy (the narrator, not the physicists) suggests we don't need to strive or make an effort to attain a higher state or knowledge. He says that things are just fine as they are, there is nothing to achieve...just live, enjoy, have sex, and die, and then...what? I don't want to even provide a link to an interesting video, if the narrator is only building a level of trust and interest in the viewers, so that he can later on start converting them to his theistic deterministic nonsense. nuff said!

ok my next 'quantum topic' will be clean and better than this one

metta

[David N. Snyder]

[EDIT: Parts 1 and 2 are, imo, excellent and well researched. But in part three, the narrator departs from relating what is mostly the views of reputable physicists and neuroscientists, and goes off on his own tangent, trying to posit, afaics, a kind of Determinism. So, now that I have watched part 3, I am not quite so enthused about the movies as a whole, because I sense a disturbing agenda unfolding in the third. I don't recommend Part 3 on.]

At the request of the OP, this thread is now closed.