What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole Page #6

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Now, um, the crux of the measurement

problem is precisely that...

although the Schrodinger equation

predicts under certain circumstances-

circumstances which we basically know

how to reproduce in the laboratory-

that basketballs should

go into states like that-

states where there fails

to be any intelligible fact-

um, any-any sensible question

even about where they are.

And yet, when we go look

- look at the basketball court in situations like that...

we invariably see either

a basketball over here...

or a basketball over there

or a basketball over there.

The fact that we see the basketball

in some specific location...

as opposed to seeing it in

some science fiction state...

that we can't even imagine

what it looks like...

where there fails to be a question

about what its location is-

The fact that we always see

it in some definite location...

is an explicit violation of

these equations of motion.

And it's exactly there that the

measurement problem comes up.

When you observe, things happen.

When you don't, they don't.

Superheroes use superposition...

with the world being potential

strips of reality until we choose.

Heroes choose what they want-

being in many places at once, experiencing

many possibilities all at once...

and then collapsing on the one.

The question is, how far down

the rabbit hole do you wanna go?

Your own mind is creating multiple

possibilities in your subconscious.

The superpositions of possibilities

are in your subconscious.

I mean, you may be consciously aware

of them, but they exist, I think...

in superposition of

multiple possibilities... -

which after a while will

collapse to one or the other.

...project or plan into the future

or cast a thought ahead of itself.

Nice shot.

But the great, great grandaddy

of wacky quantum weirdness...

is entanglement.

If time reversal symmetry

destroys the notion of time...

then entanglement crushes

our experience of space.

Two objects, two electrons

created together are entangled.

Send one to the other

side of the universe.

Now, do something to one...

and the other responds instantly.

Instantly.

So, either information is

traveling infinitely fast...

or in reality, they are still connected.

They are entangled.

And since everything was entangled...

at the moment of the big bang...

that means everything is still touching.

Space is just the construct...

that gives the illusion that

there are separate objects.

Are we far enough down

the rabbit hole yet?

You now can see in numerous

labs around the United States...

objects that are large enough

to be seen by the naked eye...

and they are in two

places simultaneously.

You can actually take

a photograph of that. -

Now, I suppose if you showed a

photograph, they'd say, "Oh. Great.

"Here's this nice blob of colored

light, and I see there's...

"you know, a bit of it

over here and another bit-

So you've got a picture of

two dots. What's the big deal?"

Superposition is pre-detection.

What I was speaking about in

the film is post-detection.

Now, under normal circumstances...

a single object, once

it has been detected...

is in just one position.

However, there are states of

matter that have been created now...

in which objects can be in multiple

positions simultaneously, not just two...

but actually, as many

as 3,000 positions.

Uh, the first of these objects...

were called Bose-Einstein condensates.

And they are single wave functions...

meaning they are single particles...

but even though they're

a single wave function...

the wave function has

multiple positions.

You say, "Look right in the chamber.

You can see it right there. "

"I see two things there. "

"No, no. That's not two things-

That's one thing. It's the

same thing in two places. "

The tricky point here is that

it's still a single wave function.

It's not 3,000 separate wave functions.

It's one wave function.

So it's one particle.

I'm not sure that people's

jaw would drop about it...

because I think-

I don't think people really believe it.

And I don't mean that people say, "Oh, you're

lying," or "Oh, the scientists are confused. "

I:

- I think it is so mysterious that you can't even understand how amazing it is.

One particle...

in 3,000 different locations.

Now, if you were to weigh one of them...

would it weigh 1/3,000th?

Well, you can't weigh one of them.

- Why?

Because it's one particle.

It's just

- It's one indivisible particle.

But if it's, uh

- But if it's in different locations...

can't you put a scale under one?

- No, it's inseparable.

It's not a-This is the tricky

conceptual part that you-

It's not 3,000 separate parts.

Even though it looks that way?

- Right.

You can look at it in that

- You can't actually see the one with 3,000.

You can look at the simpler ones

that are two or three or four.

And you can see

the- You can see-

That's to say, if you go on

- If you go onto the Web...

you'll see photographs of these.

You'll see these little

dots floating in space.

These are the different

parts of one object.

It's not- They're

not separable, uh-

It's not four different objects,

or six different objects.

It's one wave function. It's one object.

That's a real brain fart, isn't it?

'Cause when you think about it, you just...

"Wait a minute. No, no, no.

They're here, here, here.

So it's obviously one, two, three. "

No, and you can't pull

one away from the others.

If you try to pull one

away from the others...

the entire thing will just disappear.

And then, furthermore, you've

seen Star Trek and whatnot.

"Beam me up, Scotty. "

-"Beam me up, Scotty. "

So it all seems sort of, "Oh,

well, what does that really mean?"

But you've gotta really stop

and think about what that means-

That it's the same object and

it's in two places at once.

People tinker in the lab, and they get

angry about things, and they have lunch...

and they go home and

they lead their lives...

just as though nothing utterly

astounding is happening...

because that's how you

have to go about it-

And yet, there's this

completely amazing magic...

sitting right in front of your eyes.

Where the hell are you? I've

got a studio full of people...

but, oh, my God!

There's no photographer.

Where, oh, where can she be?

Aliens? Loch Ness monster?

Or a hot date?

We took two simple

black boxes like this.

Inside is a very simple

electric circuit...

with a few diodes, oscillator, EPROM...

some resistors and capacitors.

Basically, that's it.

We wrap one in aluminum foil.

We put it in an

electrically-grounded Faraday cage.

The other we set on a

tabletop around which...

four very well-qualified

meditators-

highly inner-self-managed

individuals- sit.

And they go into a

deep meditative state.

They cleanse the environment.

They make it essentially

a sacred space...

using their mind-cleansing

procedures and their intentions.

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