Weird Things Begin to Happen When You Examine Consciousness

In this video, we explore the strange, unsettling layers of reality as we zoom into the quantum levels of the universe and uncover our own selves.

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[pyro]

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." - Douglas Adams

[toxickle]

I didn’t know this was a thing that had an identifiable term. I find myself experiencing “sonder” multiple times every single day. Every house I see on the drive to and from work, and every stranger I see passing me in a car. Everyone at Walmart while I’m shopping. My mind can’t help but wonder about this exact thing. What are their lives like? Their ups and downs. Who lives in the houses we pass by each day and what are their lives like? It fills me with an unending sense of emptiness and loneliness I can’t explain.

[mider-spanman]

I used to do this thing when I was younger where I would think about what if I never existed, and then it would get deeper and deeper past non-existence, past darkness, there were sublevels to the thought experiment, and then I would hit a wall and end up shivering at the thought. I don't really know how to explain it other than that, I couldn't even think of non-existence because it isn't even fathomable.

[AwakenedWisdom-]

Consciousness is the most familiar, yet the most elusive. This video is a reminder that perhaps the most magical thing is not out there, but within us.

[Jr_oo]

“We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively” ~ Billy Hicks

[VitPilar]

"we are like neurons in the brain of cosmos trying to figure out what the universe is doing" hits hardd.

[gamemakingkirb]

I’m speechless—this video is so intricately cohesive—but my brain is more loud than ever. Fantastic video.

[Adolphsson]

Sonder.. Thank you! That word was missing from my vocabulary, yet I've felt it so many times.
I used to stand on a bridge in awe and just watch all the cars passing by on the highway beneath me. Happy to be alive and able to appreciate the complexity of this world. Every single one of those people driving by with a life as intricate as my o- "HEY, DON'T JUMP!!"
I don't stand on that bridge anymore.

[air-ick]

As someone majoring in computer science, it is almost scary to think about how similar our universe is to that of a computer. It is also interesting to think about whether the universe is conscious. If everything is conscious, how far out do we have to go before we reach the end of consciousness? Like if all the cells in our body are conscious, and the cells in our brain work together to produce our consciousness, are we like the cells of our universe? And if that's the case, is the universe a cell of something else?

[GreatOvation]

I remember an elementary school teacher stating that a Single atom changes its behavior under observation, and that has stuck with me since the 70s.

[i_accept_all_cookies]

What's really going to bake your noodle is when you look at the transactional interpretation to quantum mechanics... 7:46 "Everything in the universe appears to be far stranger and more interconnected than we could ever conjure up with our most presumptuous of woo-woos.." Love this line 😂

[joechevy]

I'm always fascinated by the 'single atom' theory.. That a single atom is being expressed infinitely, which is why each element of a single kind of atom have the same measurements.

[Acyclic-]

Man, I don't understand how you keep maintaining such a high quality of writing, animations, narrations, metaphors through words/imagery. You're like a bottomless pit of creativity. I absolutely adore your content and it's what inspired me to start my own channel. Sorry if it ever comes across that I'm imitating you, but I think it's just because your channel has been such a huge influence on my own worldview. I'll keep watching so long as you keep posting. 🙂

[investigator]

The word "observed" need to be decomissioned and replaced with interaction. There is no observation effect in large systems that are already collapsed into definative states. Observer effect is just interactions that happen on a quantum scale. We dont even know what is causing the collapse of superposition.

[jdrmanmusiqking]

5:35

This is where most people misunderstanding QM. "Observe" just means "interaction" so people get this mystical view about reality where its much more straightforward

[marcobiagini]

My name is Marco Biagini and I am a physicist; I would like to explain the “observation” problem in quantum mechanics because it is often misunderstood even by many physicists.
In quantum mechanics the state of a physical system is described by the wave function and does not have defined values ​​for all the physical quantities measurable on it; on the other hand, only the probability distributions relating to the measurable values ​​for these quantities are defined. Once the measurement has been carried out, the system will have a defined value in relation to the measured quantity, and this involves a radical modification of its wave function; in fact the wave function generally describes infinite possibilities while for an event to take place, it is necessary that the wave function assigns a probability of 100% to a single possibility and 0% probability to all the others. If all other results are not eliminated by imposing the collapse "by hand" on the wave function, the predictions of subsequent measurements on the same system will be wrong. The transition between a state that describes many possibilities to a state that describes only one possibility is called “collapse of the wave function”. The time evolution of the wave function is determined by Schrödinger's equation, but this equation never determines the collapse of the wave function, which instead is imposed by the physicist "by hand"; the collapse represents a violation of the Schrödinger equation, and the cause of the collapse is therefore attributable only to an agent not described by the Schrödinger equation itself. The open problem in quantum physics is that the cause of the transition between the indeterminate state and the determined state, cannot be traced back to any physical interaction, because all known physical interactions are already included in the Schrödinger's equation; in fact, the collapse of the wave function is a violation of the Schrodinger's equation, i.e. a violation of the most fundamental laws of physics and therefore the cause of the collapse cannot be determined by the same laws of physics, in particular, it cannot be determined by the interactions already included in the Schrodinger's equation.

After one century of debates, the problem of measurement in quantum mechanics is still open and still represents the crucial problem for all interpretations of quantum mechanics. In fact, on the one hand it represents a violation of the Schrodinger equation, that is, a violation of the fundamental laws of physics. On the other hand, it is necessary for the laws of quantum physics to make sense, and to be applied in the interpretation and prediction of the phenomena we observe. Indeed, since the wave function represents infinite possibilities, without the collapse there would be no event; for there to be an event, then there must be one possibility that is actualized by canceling all other possibilities.
This is the inescapable contradiction against which, all attempts to reconcile quantum physics with realism, break.

Quantum mechanics does not describe reality as something that exists objectively at every instant, but as a collection of events isolated in time (i.e. the phenomena we observe at the very moment in which we observe them), while among these events there are only infinite possibilities and there is no continuity between events.

In fact, the properties of a physical system are determined only after the collapse of the wave function; when the properties of the system are not yet determined, the system is not real, but only an idea, a hypothesis. Only when collapse occurs do properties become real because they take on a definite value. It makes no sense to assume that the system exists but its properties are indeterminate, because properties are an intrinsic aspect of the system itself; for example, there can be no triangle with indeterminate sides and no circle with indeterminate radius. People often say that a quantum particle is in many places at the same time but this is just an absurd interpretation since it implies logical contradictions; a non-collapsed wave function describes infinite possibilities and not a particle that occupies infinite positions at the same time.
If the properties are indeterminate it means that such properties do not exist which implies that the system itself does not exist; actually photons, electrons and quantum particles in general are just the name we give to some mathematical equations. The collapse represents the transition from infinite hypothetical possibilities to an actual event.

Quantum mechanics is therefore incompatible with realism (that's why Einstein never accepted quantum mechanics) and all attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics with realism are flawed. Since the collapse of the wave function violates the Schrödinger equation, the collapse can only be associated with an agent that is not described by the Schrödinger equation. Therefore no measuring device can cause the collapse since any measuring device, as well as their interactions, is described by the Schrödinger equation. The only event we know of that is irreducible to the Schrödinger equation is consciousness. Therefore, events can only exist when consciousness is involved in the process.


However, the fact that properties are created when a conscious mind observes the system in no way implies that it is the observer or his mind that creates those properties and causes the collapse; I regard this hypothesis as totally unreasonable (by the way, the universe is supposed to have existed even before the existence of humans). The point is that there must be a correlation between the existence of an event (associated to the collapse of the wave function =violation of the physical laws) and the interaction with a non-physical agent (the human mind); however, correlation does not mean causation because the concomitance of two events does not imply a causal link.

No cause of collapse is necessary in an idealistic perspective, which assumes that there is no mind-independent physical reality and that physical reality exists as a concept in the mind of God that directly creates the phenomena we observe in our mind (any observed phenomenon is a mental experience) ; the collapse of the wave function is only a representation of God's act of creation in our mind of the observed phenomenon and is an element of the algorithm we have developed to make predictions and describe the phenomena we observe. This is essentially the view of the Irish philosopher George Berkeley, and in this view God is not only the Creator, but also the Sustainer of the universe. The fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics is that reality is not described as a continuum of events but as isolated events, and this is in perfect agreement with the idealistic view which presupposes that what we call "universe" is only the set of our sensory perceptions and that the idea that an external physical reality exists independently of the mind is only the product of our imagination; in other words, the universe is like a collective dream created by God in our mind.Idealism provides the only logically consistent interpretation of quantum mechanics, but most physicists do not accept idealism because it contradicts their personal beliefs, so they prefer an objectively wrong interpretation that gives them the illusion that quantum mechanics is compatible with realism.

[adibahmed]

This is the type of video you watch at night when you're struggling to fall asleep

[son.of.mutant]

The mind isn’t made to stare at itself too long. At some point, the reflection starts looking back.

[Jack.ctober]

I've NEVER found any version of wording that puts my thoughts on this matter together so PERFECTLY. THANK YOU for this!

[TheLitera]

Gives so much hope. It is soothing though that I am not alone, I am a functional part of everything