What the Bleep Do We Know!?
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Movie Reviews of What the Bleep Do We Know!?
Movie Review: New-Age Pseudo-Science Fluff - Terrible Whether It's Being Watched or Not
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm not really sure why I'm bothering to review this film. Except that I heard a woman on the radio the other day referring to this film as if it were a source of knowledge. This concerns me. It (like creationism/ID) is another example of the scientific illiteracy in the US. I'm not going to try to catalog the silliness of this film, but I'll hit some of the "high" points.
The main feature of this film is a series of talking heads that spout sound bites that are meant to sound "scientific" and mysterious and amazing. I'm not surprised they don't identify them; why should we listen to anything these people say? They provide no data and make many bald-faced assertions that are false, misleading, and unsupportable. They spout fluff like: "this requires a whole new science," "we can't explain X," "if you look into it carefully, it's so strange that there's just no way science can explain it," "Heisenberg himself said ...," "scientific experiments have shown ..." [why do they never cite the journal article for these "amazing facts?"], ad nauseum.
All this "information" is supposed to make you think (at least this is the message I heard):
1. Dualism is true [it's not]
2. You can create your own reality by conscious will [you can't]
3. You can time-travel, change the form of matter, etc. [you can't]
4. Science actually doesn't support naturalism; but rather some kind of new-age spiritualism/mysticism [it doesn't; scientific knowledge supports naturalism in every detail]
The silly non-sequiturs include, primarily:
1. Certain very strange things happen with matter at the subatomic level, therefore they can occur at the middle-world scale of our bodies. For instance: the fact that you can't measure both the location and velocity of a subatomic particle at the same time means that the middle-world objects around you don't exist until you observe them. [We experience is the SUM of trillions of motions of subatomic particles that actually does act just like we perceive it does, on our scale. The fact that you can't localize an electron does not mean we don't understand the macro (middle-world) behavior of matter very exactly. People in China do actually exist and live their lives whether you observe them or not. You may be ignorant of them; but that has no causal effect on their actual existence.]
2. "X" is deeply perplexing or difficult to understand, therefore it's a "mystery," therefore something supernatural must be going on, therefore that's somehow comforting. ["X" includes (of course!) quantum physics, human consciousness, the subatomic world, etc. These things are perplexing because our brains evolved to help our DNA replicate in our "middle-world" of objects from the size of sand grains to mountains (as opposed to the atomic/subatomic or very large (stars/galaxies/the universe) scale.) The subatomic world is completely different from middle-world, as is the very large. We only needed a useful (for propagating DNA) model of the world in our consciousness, not an accurate model of all reality. Your or my lack of intellectual skills does not warp space-time, nor does it imply or require ANYTHING about the nature of reality.]
3. Science doesn't have the perfect model of how sub-atomic and astro-physical scale events behave, therefore your brain creates its own reality and you can travel backward or forward in time, walk on water or whatever. [Do I need to even comment?]
4. The mathematics that describe the physical world have a time scale (dimension) that mathematically allows "motion" in both directions. Therefore we can time travel using our minds. And the corollary: the direction of time seems real; but is arbitrary and we can't prove why it goes the way it seems to us that it does. [The first statement is trivial, since math always allows this. There IS a real direction to time: It is most forcefully pointed by the increase of entropy of the universe as a whole.]
5. In the past we used to think that the earth was flat, then we thought it was round, now (in the post-modernist miasma of the film) we can't be sure that it really IS round, since we were wrong about it being flat. [Again, there is a direction to our accumulating real knowledge of the world. We do know that the earth is round and revolves around the sun, it's not a guess. And it will be round and revolving long after we are gone.]
The "dramatized" parts, that purport to show Marlee Matlin making some kind of "spiritual journey" replete with time-travel and Matrix-like special effects, are just amazingly lame. This film isn't just lame, it's supine. It doesn't need a cane or a walker, it needs a complete ICU. The acting is abysmal, as is the dialog.
This film purports to address the "Big Questions," like, why are we here [it's not a question that requires or deserves an answer], how did we get here [we evolved from earlier mammals in Africa], the meaning of life [if there is one it's: replicate your DNA], the nature of consciousness [If you actually want to learn something, please read "Consciousness Explained" by Dennett and Pinker's books on consciousness]: you know, the usual suspects. But, again, it just lamely tries to make it all mysterious and pseudo-scientific by innuendo. This is the very worst kind of new-age fluff and pseudo-science magic that tries to replace the comfort of religion with the comfort of some other sort of supernatural delusion. As science has found actual, useful, verifiable knowledge about the world/universe/life, the magical "explanations" of religion have been replaced. But most people seem to desire the comfort of religion, mystery, whatever. This film is the kind of thing that results. Don't fall for this snake oil. Read some books of real science instead.
Movie Review: Awesome movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is really food for thought! Sometimes we think our society in this age is so advanced, but we really have so much more to learn.
Watched it several times and now am passing it around!
Movie Review: Nice anything-but-scientific movie
Summary: 2 Stars
A nice and touching movie. I recommend it if you are searching for self-help inspiration and don't care about anything else.
That said, if you think science should be taken seriously then ignore it. This movie is just pure post-modern garbage. There's no single scientific fact presented that could resist the slightest of the examinations.
Movie Review: Conscious raising...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent way to become familiar with more about quantum physics,the law of attraction, the power of intention and the consciousness change we are currently in on the planet. The closer we get to a critical mass, the more important it is to focus on the positive and learn how what we think and do affects the whole.Movie Review: It's working for me.....
Summary: 5 Stars
I was recommended this film quite awhile back and had finally received it from Netflix just the other day. I wanted to watch it again but lent it to my parents for them to watch.
I know quite a few of you only gave this movie one star. You've pointed out that a lot of what's been covered in the movie is a lot of "flap doodle." But let me just go over a few things that have really helped me.
The part of the movie that covered peptides and emotions and how they can physiologically affect us was really fascinating to me. When they talked about how we can be addicted to emotions (whether good or bad) I finally realized that I was addicted to negative thought patterns that I've been aware of for years. These thoughts would bother me and I would try to do my best to think of something else. It was like I had no control over my thoughts or my own mind. I never considered myself an addictive person. I don't do drugs nor do I drink. So, since watching the movie, every time I find myself indulging in negative thoughts I quickly remind myself that I must be addicted to these angry, sad or other negative emotions and I immediately correct myself. I can't explain how self-empowering this has become for me. I can already see a positive difference in my life.
Another point made in the movie also helped me a lot. It has to do with the concept of God and either being punished or rewarded for being a bad or good person. One person said (and I can't remember the exact words) that "God is the highest elevated spirit within all things. We are God." And it made me wonder about the concept of our "higher selves and that perhaps all of our higher selves are connected in someway. I have to admit, it makes me ponder with some enthusiasm as I have been quite disappointed with traditional religions and have become a bit hopeless as to what really is out there for us beyond this life.
I guess, if I were into metaphysics perhaps I'd be disappointed with this movie as well. I would have to say that my perspective is more like a mystic's. I went into watching this movie with a totally open mind, no expectations, and I got so much from it.