One For The Scientists Here.

[Theland]

https://youtu.be/4C5pq7W5yRM

I found this interesting. Would like your views. Only short.

[woofgang]

17 minutes ain't short

[jim360]

I agree with its dismissal of the many-worlds interpretation, and of course it's worth looking at the science it cites, but I disagree profoundly with the end journey -- and, for that matter, several of the statements along the way.

I think the mistake here is to associate consciousness with the role of the "observer" in Quantum Mechanics. All the equations of QM say is that, at some point, a measurement is performed on the system. Nothing is ever said about how or why the measurement is performed, nor is there any need to add information about how performed it. All that's necessary is that the measurement happens. In various set-ups this may have surprisingly exotic effects, of course!

But the point is that there's no need for the measurement to "choose" to happen in a particular way. It just did (or didn't), and the quantum state behaves as appropriate.

If you want the fancy term for this, it's called "decoherence", and it's noticeably absent from the video. To be fair, decoherence is a very hard topic, but it's been part of mainstream science for about 50 years now, and is worth looking up as a serious and plausible alternative to any need for consciousness.

[spathiphyllum]

There is more to life than matter in my opinion.

[Theland]

Thanks Jim. De coherence rings a bell. Must revise.
Yes Spath, I agree.

[Backdrifter]

It's a classic example of crowbarring science into a justification of religious belief. I'm not religious, but think that if you are, it's all about the strength of your faith. You shouldn't need badly-made videos with horrible non-stop music and gabbled explanations of Schrodinger to give your belief some sort of scientific validation. That's what faith is, you believe or you don't.

[Theland]

In my opinion, the secular materialistic atheists have nothing positive to say to convince me, and everything to say to criticise faith.

[nailit]

In my opinion, people who believe in bronze age myths have nothing positive to say to convince me, and everything to say to criticise scientific inquiry.

[jim360]

There is fundamentally no point in asking questions if you aren't interested in the answers you get.