What Reality is Really Made of — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00The real reason quantum particles change
2. 0:01their behavior when observed scares the
3. 0:03out of me. When you shoot light
4. 0:05through two slits, you get an
5. 0:07interference pattern because light
6. 0:09behaves like a wave and it interferes
7. 0:11with itself. But if you fire just one
8. 0:13photon at a time, you still get that
9. 0:16interference pattern. So, what's it
10. 0:19interfering with? Well, quantum objects
11. 0:21like photons don't definitively exist in
12. 0:23space or time like normal objects do.
13. 0:26They are in what's called a
14. 0:27superposition. A single photon will
15. 0:29literally travel through both slits and
16. 0:32interfere with itself. [music]
17. 0:34But the moment you try to observe which
18. 0:36slit it actually goes through,
19. 0:38everything changes. It stops acting like
20. 0:40a wave and starts [music] acting like a
21. 0:42normal particle just going through one
22. 0:44slit. So, it appears the act of
23. 0:46observation changes the particle's
24. 0:49behavior. Now, this is terrifying but
25. 0:51not for the reason you may think because
26. 0:53it's not your consciousness doing it.
27. 0:55But I promise it's just as weird.
28. 0:58>> [music]
29. 0:58>> An observation doesn't need an observer.
30. 1:01It's really when a particle interacts
31. 1:03with its environment and gives off some
32. 1:05information about it. This leaking of
33. 1:08information is called quantum
34. 1:10decoherence and is really what is
35. 1:12changing the particle's behavior. It's
36. 1:14not so much knowing about the particle
37. 1:16that changes its behavior but the
38. 1:17potential to know. The instant
39. 1:20information exists about the particle,
40. 1:22the universe in some unknown mechanism
41. 1:25forces it to take a more definitive
42. 1:27state. [music] But here's the really
43. 1:29weird part because modern quantum theory
44. 1:31tells us that the most fundamental
45. 1:33aspect of reality is really [music]
46. 1:36information.
47. 1:37All the matter and energy of the
48. 1:39universe are really just emergent
49. 1:41properties manifesting from a more
50. 1:43fundamental [music]
51. 1:44information field. As famously put, it
52. 1:47from bit. All of physical reality, that
53. 1:50it, comes from bits of information. But
54. 1:53this could tell us something about our
55. 1:55consciousness. Consciousness may not
56. 1:57arise from physical matter but rather
57. 2:00both matter and the mind could be seen
58. 2:02as different expressions of the same
59. 2:04underlying informational substrate.
60. 2:07[music]
61. 2:07In what's called the integrated
62. 2:09information theory, consciousness might
63. 2:11just be an emergent property of
64. 2:13sufficiently complex information
65. 2:15processing that matter like the brain
66. 2:17only helps to facilitate. [music]
67. 2:18But it makes me wonder. I mean, why does
68. 2:20information exist if not to be received?
69. 2:24Or perhaps
70. 2:25perceived. Now, I know I'm getting
71. 2:27speculative but is consciousness an
72. 2:29illusion of biology or something more
73. 2:31fundamental? Well, the answer or perhaps
74. 2:34the question is not very clear. Now, I
75. 2:36put a lot of work into these videos and
76. 2:38some people do try and steal [music]
77. 2:40them. So, if you want to support me,
78. 2:41just hit follow and maybe go to the
79. 2:43bottom link in my bio.
80. 2:50>> [music]