This is absolute madness! A bit of quantum physics for you, explained nicely in the form of a cartoon.

Think you know the nature of reality?

YouTube - Double slit theory Quantum Physics Animation

what the fuck, particles changing their physics based on the fact they are being measured....

THAT IS CRAZY, that kinda dispels all science. kinda made me think!!! big time..

being aware essentialy means u can change whats going on around u

It's sadly not quite as amazing as you think - the process of detecting a particle causes it to become one form or the other. Read a book called "The Never Ending Days of Being Dead" by Marcus Chown, it explains this phenomenon beautifully, and in simple language (good job - I'm useless at physics).

If you really want your mind bending, look up a guy called Stephen Wolfram (he gets a big mention in the above book). He has a highly credible theory that the universe and it's entire contents are the result of a 4-line computer code run by a higher intelligence for (what seems to us like) 13.4 billion years. He claims all the complexity in the universe can be generated by a very simple code repeated over and over billions of times. Basically, even the most complex things in the universe can be coded for by a simple code. The number 0.989898989898... can be written, in code, as:

0.98
Repeat X times

Or something along those lines.

Pi can be written as Area/radius squared, and will generate a number of almost infinite complexity, with no repetition or pattern, that has an infinite number of digits. Same with e. Using a computer not much more powerful than a basic desktop, Wolfram reckons he's discovered a "universe-creating" code which, if reapeated for billions of years, would create complexity the likes of which is observable in the universe. The only thing stopping him from doing it is lack of memory space.

This means there is a very real chance we are nought but a digital universe, manufactured by a higher power to solve an equation, just like Douglas Adams speculated. I don't know about you, but that makes me feel funny.

Sweet dreams!

Schrodinger's cat.

Sorry it just has to be mentioned in all discussions on quantum physics relevent or not.

I like what I have started here. I will have to get that book Blanca.

Higher forms of intelligence controlling us in a virtual reality universe. Maybe David Icke isn't crazy after all!

Marcus Chown talks about particle detection using something called a "cloud chamber". An atom is fired through some water vapour and its path can be traced by seeing water droplets condense around it as it passes through them (I can't remember how they do this but it's some physicsy thing). Anywho, if the atom never interacted with a steam particle, it would pass through the cloud chamber by every possible route and no route at all. However (and this is where my understanding wavers), the fact that it interacts with so many water particles forces it to take a particular route.

Essentially, it is easy for one particle to be everywhere at once, but if it interacts with another particle, its quantum field strength decreases or some shit, because it needs to use more energy to make the other particle appear everywhere at once too. If it interacts with millions of particles, its quantum field strength falls to such a low level that it simply ceases in its quantum-like behaviour of being everywhere at once. Basically, the other particles give it away, rather than, as I think it has been interpreted here, the particle "knows" it's being watched (as is said in the video).

There are two possibilities that arise from this (and God help me, I can't remember why) on a macroscopic level - that either inanimate objects (like chairs or cars) can be everywhere at once until observed, or that every single particle exists in an infinite number of parallel universes, an amazing theory for which is presented in TNEDOBD. Hugh Everett, father of Mark Everett (of the Eels) was the bloke who put this theory forward - that every time a quantum event occurs, both courses of action are taken in different universes.

I'm sceptical about these theories because they place too much emphasis upon the observer. I'm currently reading Nausea by Sartre and if it's teaching me anything, it's that the observer simply doesn't matter in a sea of existence. We are no different, in terms of existential importance, than our TV or our bed, so I'm sceptical that the universe and all it's laws of physics would see us as important.

Anywho, I found that Horizon thing on iPlayer, I'll give it a watch later.

I keep thinking this is about methods of double penetration everytime I see this thread.

I Swear down... i thought it was double-slut experiment.

my heart leapt. i thought i was about to learn a cool secret.

Robert Lanza, M.D.: Experiments: World May Be Influenced by the Future

Good piece on Biocentrism here if anyones interested...

I thought it was about the women with two vags.