Wednesday, March 30, 2005 ::: shows what the *bleep* you know
throughout the course of this year, i have began to grow an interest for quatum physics and neurosciences ... that is why my manager suggested this movie to me: What The Bleep Do We Know? a movie that supposedly gives the answer to the meaning of life and why we're here using Ph.D.'s and certified experts on the topics of Quantum Physics and Neurophysiology
unfortunately, upon researching this movie on the Internet Movie Database, it has come to my attention that this movie was a vehicle for propagating the ideas and beliefs of the Ramtha Cult
synopsis: Part story and part documentary, "What The Bleep Do We Know?" is a radical departure from conventional science. Amanda, a divorced deaf photographer played by Marlee Matlin (The West Wing), finds herself in an Alice-and-Wonderland experience when her daily, uninspired life literally begins to unravel, revealing the cellular, molecular and even quantum worlds which lie beneath. Guided by a number of scientists, experts and mystics, she finds that the very nature of reality become questionable. The movie takes you into a world where quantum uncertainty is demonstrated - where Amanda's neurological processes, and perceptual shifts are engaged and lived - where everything is alive, and where reality can be changed by thoughts. This film gives voice to the modern day radical souls of science, making them the true heroes of our day as they conquer and map the greatest uncharted territory yet - man's consciousness itself.
before you start thinking that i'm actually trying to promote this movie, that synopsis was taken from IMDB as well ...
the documentary part of this movie is a talking heads feature of several supposed experts on the fields of quantum mechanics and neurosciences ... it begins by exploring the mysteries of quantum mechanics with watered down scientific theories which still hold some merit to their credibility as it remains consistent with other popular literature on the subject ("Dancing Wu Li Masters"), but then begins to make radical implications of the science on a mystical level, almost to the point of implying that "you can get your matrix on"
as evidence for the over-the-head theories described, they take three case studies, two of which have been dismissed as simply BS: Case 1: to prove that the mind cannot process visual information that it cannot comprehend, the movie claims that the native-americans did not see Columbus' three ships as it was approaching the shore ... Bullshit: the native-americans that Columbus made contact with were sea-faring experts, and although they may not have been familiar with European ships, there is no way that they could have missed it Case 2: to demonstrate the power of consciousness over material reality, a case is presented where 40,000 people from around the world came to Washington D.C. to participate in an experiment where they would meditate ... it was expected that the city, which had a particularly high crime rate, would experience a 25% drop in crime that summer ... although the police chief was skeptical about it, claiming that "it would take 2 feet of snow for crime to drop 25%," surely enough, the city experienced a 25% drop in crime ... credibility: not entirely bullshit ... although this may be hard to believe, the chances of that being a coincidence is very low Case 3: to further demonstrate the power of consciousness over the material reality, another case presented was the research of an expert on water where he took samples of water from around the world, had a buddhist monk bless one, and have emotionally oriented phrases taped to the bottles in which they were contained ... droplets of the water would then crystalize when frozen to form a spectacular pattern in respect to the phrases or blessings ... Bullshit: the guy wasn't even a scientist, he doesn't have any certification nor has his study been published in any reputable scientific journal
mind you, don't let all that discourage you from opening your mind to the posibilities presented in the movie, after all, 40,000 meditators were able to alter reality together ... but even if you don't believe that, most of the other scientific foundations of the movie remained consistent with the theories of quantum mechanics ... well, up until this one guy starts talking about how he "creates his day by infecting the quantum field" and addressing a prayer to the "ultimate observer" ...
somewhere in the middle of the movie, they start bashing the semitic concept of God, which was highly unnecessary ... the ideas in the movie could have flowed perfectly and remained coherent without this portion ... all it did was attract fundamentalists to bash the hell out of this movie ... if you watch this movie and strongly believe in god, skip this part, or at least don't give it a second thought
at the end of the movie, they start talking about neurophysiology, a topic which i have currently been growing an interest in, and one in which my biology teacher Mrs. Jajbhay has studied in university ... although the ideas were interesting, it was oversimplified to the point that it lost its merit to anyone with a level of education above sixth grade ... one of the theories presented in this movie is that every emotion has a hormone associated with it, and that we bombard our somatic cells with a few particular kinds of these hormones that they eventually become dependent on it, and therefore begin to crave it like an addiction ... as intriguing as this idea might sound, another student of neurophysiology has commented on an IMDB forum that, any theory which aims to simplify human emotions by designating it to a particular hormone is probably full of Shit ... although i concur on that level, i must still say that the implications of this theory are still intriguing and so must therefore be taken under more consideration ...
overall, in terms of scientific merit, this movie is seriously flawed, containing concepts which are meant to mislead the audience into believing that the mysteries of life, the universe and everything could possibly be revealed in a one and a half hour time span ... however, as claimed many times by the movie-makers in the dvd special feature, the goal of this movie was to open up a forum on these non-conventional topics and ideas in the mainstream so that people could begin to open their minds and see the big picture ... on that point, i must agree because north american culture desperately needs something more than another "Matrix-style" movie to get everyone talking about philosophy, science and religion again ... the point on which i dispair is that this movie, and these people had to be the first ones to do it ...
what do i have against these people? ... the blonde lady in the talking heads portion of the movie, JZ Knight, was given a lot of time on voice and film, talking about subjects on which she had no qualifications for ... at the end credits it was revealed that she was channelling the spirit of an individual called "Ramtha" ... Ramtha, is supposed to be a 35,000 year old warrior spirit from the lost city of Atlantis ... JZ Knight is the leader of a popular cult called the Ramtha cult, and many of the other experts were associated with the Ramtha cult themselves, except for one (Dr. David Albert) who claimed several times that his views were being misrepresented in the film
i might point out however, that "who" says it isn't as important as "what" is said ... as long as a theory conforms to reality, it doesn't matter if joe schmoe is saying it, it should still be taken into serious consideration at least ... the problem is that much of the information on this film was heavily slanted ... that, however, doesn't mean it is completely false ... afterall, the very basic foundations of science itself can still be disproven ... only 120 years ago, people believed man could never fly ... and only 100 years ago did physicists realize that classical Newtonian physics no longer apply at a subatomic level, but i digress
my point is to keep your minds open to anything, but at the same time to also take everything with a grain of salt ... i began by believing this movie was a godsend and really did reveal the mysteries of life, the universe and everything, but i'm guliable ...
presently, my biology teacher Mrs. Jajbhay has given us an assignment where we are to watch the movie and write about what we think about it ... for the purposes of stimulating some brain cells and coming to "see the big picture," i do encourage that people see this movie ... and even if you don't like it, as long as it gets you thinking, the movie makers accomplished what they set out to do, and cudos to them on that ...
... now only if we could get some real qualified people who could stop "Michael Moore-ing" the subject to bring it to the mainstream
--- Distorted_Lens trekking the path of truth (or not) since 1986
