What the Bleep Do We Know!?
by Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente, William Arntz
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Barry Newman, Elaine Hendrix, John Ross Bowie, Marlee Matlin, Robert Bailey Jr.Director: Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente, William Arntz
Brand: MATLIN,MARLEE
Producer: Betsy Chasse
Writer: Betsy Chasse
Writer: Mark Vicente
Writer: William Arntz
Writer: Matthew Hoffman
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; German (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-03-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Movie Reviews of What the Bleep Do We Know!?
Movie Review: A GREAT movie for all the wrong reasons
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished watching "What the Bleep do we Know?" and feel compelled to write this review. You should watch this movie not because it will enlighten you and make you see your world in a different way but because it is in a sense "educational." It educates the viewer on what bad science is.
I have two main problems with this movie: one is based on science, the other is based on religion.
Since the time of Copernicus and Galileo science and religion have been at loggerheads. Scientific atheists have overstepped their bounds and claimed there is no God since he can not be proved. Meanwhile, religious lay and clergy have reacted with fundamentalism and overstepped their bounds by claiming science is faulty and so they come up with their own "science" (Intelligent Design and Creationism among others). The movie is about scientists overstepping their bounds and becoming theologians. Buy it because it shows you what NOT to beleive about science and religion.
I am a scientist (Physics) and an engineer (Electrical) and keep abreast of the latest scientific developments and I can tell you this movie is a lot of bad science. But don't take my word for it. Ask yourself "Where are the heavy hitters in this movie? Why don't I see Steven Weinberg, Murray Gell-Man, or Stephen Hawking in this movie backing up these theories?" The "scientists" interviewed are merely science writers with a lot of New Age philosophy at their core. I'm sure some of them are scientists but after viewing the extra material on the DVD where the directors talked about interviewing them I think any REAL scientist involved with this project was caught up in the Hollywood glamour and agreed to make the movie against his or her better judgment.
The biggest problem I have with the science in this movie is its depiction of Quantum Mechanics. It is the science of "infinite possibilities" according to the movie. True. Probability plays a key role in Quantum Mechanics (on a tangent. . .Douglas Adams has a lot of fun with QM with his "improbability drive" in "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." His improbability drive has as much probability of instantly sending someone across the galaxy in tact as some of the possibilities expressed in "Bleep." Adams was joking around but Chasse is serious.) No narrator, however, gets into the details of what is meant by "infinite possibilities," so I will.
There is a non-zero probability that when I run towards a brick wall I will pop out on the other side with no damage to myself or the wall. That is a quantum mechanical probability. The probability that that will happen is somewhere around one in ten to the 54th power. It's a non-zero probability but very nearly zero. The movie doesn't get into the "improbability" of the experiment.
So what? It's possible, right? Yes. But I have better things to do with my time than bang my head against the wall ten to the 54 times in hopes that just once I'll pop through.
This quantum probability (quantum tunneling) has its place in the universe. It is the reason why the sun burns as brightly as it does for such a long period of time at a temperature much LOWER than expected. QM paved the way for the laser, transistor, nuclear power, and the electron microscope among other inventions. Quantum Mechanics is truly a fascinating adventure but the movie never really delves into the real heart of the field or how it can legitimately affect the way we look at the universe. A simple quantum dual slit diffraction experiment could illustrate the truly incredible "quantum connection" that exists between every particle in the universe and therefore between every person including you and me. No real time is given to matters such as Quantum Teleportation, Quantum Encryption, or Quantum Computing. No detail is presented in HOW we humans are all connected. Instead, we are invited to imagine an existence where we rely on this idea of "infinite possibilities" to create our own reality which should include becoming our own gods. It's very (yawn) empowering.
The movie uses the "infinite possibilities" angle as a tool in which we can somehow guide our thoughts to create our own reality. Could my thoughts transform and improve the probability of passing through a brick wall unscathed to, say, one in three or better? The narrator seems to think that this can be accomplished by thought alone. The point is that we, the observers, can not observe without changing that which is observed. There is no "out there" that exists independant of our observations. Physical phenomena are OBSERVED through our senses and our senses are a sophisticated collection of neural transmitters and pre-programmed patterns existing in the neural network of our brains. Even matter itself can not escape existence through our observations. Historically, the concept of matter has gone through change after change until we realize today that sub-atomic particles and atoms are very little more than just empty space. Since matter doesn't exist without our thoughts and perceptions, our perceptions MAKE the world we live in.
And that is where the problem is. Saying "matter is a thought" is a non-sequitur. Matter will exist and will be "observed" (through normal chemical and nuclear reactions such as solar fusion mentioned above) regardless of whether or not humans are around. Matter is not a thought. Matter makes up the universe. We study matter. We think about it. We theorize on it. But drawing the line between thought as CAUSE and tiny day to day improvements that would otherwise be thought of as disconnected as a macroscopic EFFECT in the "plan your day" model is not a product of science. It is a product of wishful thinking, ad hoc reasoning, and debunked telekinesis.
Notable quotables:
"You really can walk on water if you completely believe it."
The idea is that even if we totally believe we can walk on water we still sink because our "total belief" is only a skin of belief enveloping a world of disbelief. Thought affects matter as shown in the differing caracteristics of bottles of water frozen with emotional words pasted on the bottles for observers to view and think about (a grand example of bad science). This experiment is used to show how thought can be used to manipulate matter--kind of like the bending spoons flop of an experiment on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. We have been "brainwashed," so says the narrator, through the media, religion, experience and socialization to believe we can't walk on water, therefore, we sink. My belief is that if someone were to try to walk on water, PERHAPS after trying maybe ten to the 75 times it will work once. The movie never goes into the numbers behind the "infinite possibilities" in Quantum Mechanics.
"We are all on our way to becoming gods."
By the time a narrator mentions this line, the movie has gone way beyond science and is deep into religion. The movie asserts: The universe is big. We are tiny. Whatever we do could not possibly offend God the Creator of the Universe. We are too insignificant. As a scientist I have to challenge, "Since we are so connected to each other and the universe show me the proof that we are so tiny and inoffensive. Show me the proof that God doesn't concern himself with our issues even though I agree we may be insignificant in some respects. In fact, show me the proof or at least the evidence that God is what the movie says he is."
According to a narrator, God is the superposition of everything we consider spiritual. God is this "concept." Furthermore, God is neither Old Testament nor New Testament. God is a concept far more fluid and flexible than these antiquated versions. We are spiritual. We can touch the divine. Remember, we are gods in the making.
This is not a proof of God but an axiom--one that the viewer does not have to accept. This is where the scientists overstep their bounds by becoming theologians and it is why you should buy this movie. The movie can be thought of as "Exhibit A" in the heated struggle between science and religion. It is bad science dressed up and worshipped as religion by New Age "scientists."
Buy this DVD to get a great understanding of how bad science generates bad religion. It is filled with scientists that neglect the math of probablility and therefore present a concept that sounds closer to magic or religion than it is to science.
There are those that would say as a rebuttal, "Any sufficiently advanced society will posess technology that to the same society two centuries earlier would look like magic."
True. But any science--past, present, or future--functions on logic and reasoning. Hiding the logic then drawing conclusions that advance telekinesis as this movie has done, disqualifies its "scientific" premise.
Get it. Watch it. And when that twinge of disbelief hits you in the back of your brain pay attention to it. And with an open mind explore your disbelief a little more.
Summary of What the Bleep Do We Know!?
Explores human perception, quantum uncertainty and life at a cellular and mollecular level through the eyes of a jaded divorced photographer who begins to question the reality of her existence.No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: MATLIN,MARLEE
Title: WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW
Street Release Date: 10/11/2005
Genre: DOCUMENTARY
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