1 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,760 Welcome back, you wonderful people who matter so very, very much. 2 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:33,200 I don't know if you ever wondered how I settled on saying welcome back, you wonderful people 3 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:34,960 who matter so very, very much. 4 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,920 Well, I said it as my last words, and it could help video once. 5 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:44,440 And it struck me as something that I wanted to remind you of. 6 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:49,960 Every single time I greet you wonderful people who matter so very, very much. 7 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,520 So it migrated over. 8 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,120 And I'm glad it did. 9 00:00:55,120 --> 00:01:00,480 And the welcome back part is because I'm just over the moon that you picked up my book slash 10 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,120 the podcast and decided to come back for more. 11 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:08,920 I'm giddy thrilled. 12 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:13,280 There aren't words for working on something this important for this long. 13 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:21,120 And to finally see it going out and reaching others to be able to facilitate that. 14 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,120 There are not words. 15 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:29,000 But I can say that you are very, very dear to me. 16 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,080 And thank you. 17 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,040 Chapter eight, y'all, you made it through. 18 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:39,320 Feel free to take all the time you need to digest that. 19 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:44,000 If you need to step away from the podcast for a while, just make sure that you come 20 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:49,440 back because there are some really important things still coming. 21 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,520 And then the big answer. 22 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:56,120 Oh, and by the way, there's only 11 chapters in this book, and it's about to get even 23 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:57,800 more mind blowing. 24 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:05,920 So without further ado, Chapter nine, not allowed. 25 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,240 Today we're going to begin with the rods and the cones. 26 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:16,120 These are the photoreceptors of the eye, and they're primarily split into two groups, the 27 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:22,000 rods of which there's only one type and the cones of which there's three types. 28 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,400 And each group capture a different wavelength. 29 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:31,960 By far, the cones outnumber the rods. 30 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,320 Cones capture light wavelengths that are within the range of the visible spectrum. 31 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:42,360 In fact, these receptors are the benchmarks by which bookends of the visible light spectrum 32 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:43,360 were set. 33 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:49,040 AKA, if we can't see it, it's not on the visible light spectrum. 34 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:55,440 So the cones are L cones, which see the color red, which is 64% of the visible light spectrum 35 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:57,680 and the longest wavelengths. 36 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:08,080 M cones, which see green, 32%, and S cones, which see blue, 2 to 7% and the shortest wavelengths. 37 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,400 And on the outer edge of this cluster of cones are the rods. 38 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:18,360 Now they're responsible for peripheral vision, the corner of your eye. 39 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:24,080 Now these rods pick up a wavelength just below the visible light spectrum by only about 40 40 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,600 nanometers infrared light. 41 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:32,120 Infrared light doesn't appear as a color and the rods are effectively blind to bright 42 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:33,120 daylight. 43 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:38,560 And because there's so much fewer rods than there are cones and because visible light 44 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:44,440 is so much brighter and more varied and more energetic, the visual cortex is typically 45 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:49,600 lit up with the input from the cones, which drowns out the input of the rods. 46 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:57,200 With one major exception, when it gets pitch black out, you know how you can still kind 47 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,920 of see? 48 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:06,680 Once your eyes adjust to the light, AKA your visual cortex quietens down, you can still 49 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:14,160 sort of make out objects and obstacles, but notice how they aren't any particular color. 50 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:20,400 Because the visual cortex is quiet, you're able to see what your rods are picking up. 51 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,920 Much like only being able to see the smudges on your cell phone screen when the screen's 52 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,000 turned off. 53 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:33,420 At that point, you're seeing almost exclusively with your rods and viewing a part of the spectrum 54 00:04:33,420 --> 00:04:36,480 as clearly as you'll ever see it. 55 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:38,200 So why do I bring this up? 56 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:44,440 Well, most people have experienced a weird phenomenon casually referred to seeing something 57 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,560 out of the corner of their eye. 58 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:51,680 It's typically blobby, out of focus, and it lacks color. 59 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:56,840 And when that happens, what does it we do to confirm or refute the existence of whatever 60 00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:58,600 it was we saw? 61 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:04,800 We look directly at the spot where it was, absolutely flooding our visual cortex with 62 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:09,880 the information from the visible light we are capturing, and then immediately shoving 63 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:15,000 our visual cortex into processing what we're looking directly at with the attention and 64 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,160 priority level of what in the hell was that? 65 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:25,080 If there is something there that only the rods are capable of seeing, we definitely 66 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,240 aren't going to see it now. 67 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,080 Most of our information that we gather is through capturing visible light. 68 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:38,600 It is easily our primary source of information intake about the world around us. 69 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:44,520 Yes, the other senses are very important, but for those who have the ability to see, 70 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:49,640 we have tied an enormous amount of our trust in what we see with our own two eyes. 71 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:55,040 Hence the phrase, I'll believe it when I see it with my own two eyes. 72 00:05:55,040 --> 00:06:03,240 Now, I understand that line of thinking, but we see less than 10 billionth of what is going 73 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:12,000 on and seeing is believing is somehow a belief held by an alarming number of people. 74 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:18,020 I believe this to be a major factor of why so few physicists are atheist, because they 75 00:06:18,020 --> 00:06:24,080 have a much better understanding than most of how little we're able to detect. 76 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:29,360 There are so many of us out there that walk around on the shoulders of this science and 77 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:35,360 physics community acting like we've gotten at least most of this all figured out and 78 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:40,440 no, not really at all. 79 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:46,760 We know what we know and we've figured out some of what we can detect, but even then, 80 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:49,480 there's a vast drop off. 81 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:54,760 Far past the line of subatomic particles, our logic starts coming apart in ways that 82 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,880 we have no frame of reference for. 83 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:04,760 As Richard Feynman so simply put it, if you think you understand quantum mechanics, you 84 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,160 don't understand quantum mechanics. 85 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:12,580 He also notably stated, there's no shame in not knowing things. 86 00:07:12,580 --> 00:07:16,640 The only shame is to pretend that we know everything. 87 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:22,840 Okay, so there's this one really fascinating section of physics that professors seem to 88 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:26,040 universally look forward to lecturing about. 89 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:29,280 The Copenhagen Interpretation. 90 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:33,940 Now I'll give a simplified summary to save myself having to add in another few chapters 91 00:07:33,940 --> 00:07:38,940 because that is a topic that I can happily speak on at great length. 92 00:07:38,940 --> 00:07:43,760 So though the journey begins a bit earlier with Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, and Werner 93 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:48,400 Heisenberg, we'll begin at the double slit experiment. 94 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:52,560 Now the purpose of the double slit experiment was to basically determine once and for all 95 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:58,160 the correct side of an argument that was raging in the world of physics. 96 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:02,800 There's a very heated debate centered on the behavior of photons of light. 97 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:04,960 Did they act as particles? 98 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:08,040 Or did they act as waves? 99 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:13,840 A photon emitter was placed at one end of a pitch black chamber with no other light 100 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:21,360 source, and then at the other end, a negative plate, much like photo film. 101 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:25,920 A photon of light hitting it would make a small mark on the plate. 102 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:30,640 In between these two ends, a parallel thin metal sheet was placed so that it blocked 103 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:38,400 the path of the photons, with the exception of two small slits that were cut out of it. 104 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:43,460 So if light acts as particles after running the experiment for a while, you would expect 105 00:08:43,460 --> 00:08:49,420 to see two distinct groupings of individual little markings on the negative plate, right? 106 00:08:49,420 --> 00:08:53,280 One for the left slit, and one for the ones that travel through the right slit. 107 00:08:53,280 --> 00:09:00,400 Instead, what they saw was a pattern of interference, as if a wavelength of light had split into 108 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:05,480 two at the slits, and they had traveled side by side to the plate. 109 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:10,600 Instead, what they saw was a pattern of interference. 110 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:16,600 It was as if a wavelength of light had split into two at the slits, and they had traveled 111 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:21,720 side by side to the plate, creating interference. 112 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:27,240 Now that would make the experiment seem, at first, to support the wavelength theory, right? 113 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:34,200 But upon closer inspection of the plate, there were individual dots where the particles had 114 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:35,200 hit. 115 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:41,960 Somehow, these photons were simultaneously showing traits of acting as both a particle 116 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:44,280 and a wave. 117 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:49,940 It wasn't a case of, sometimes it does this and sometimes it does that. 118 00:09:49,940 --> 00:09:52,040 Sometimes it's both. 119 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:57,320 So then they tried the process with a detector, so that they could see in real time what was 120 00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:59,920 actually occurring in the chamber. 121 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:06,720 But whenever they observed the experiment in this way, the photons of light would simply 122 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:12,120 go through one slit or another, forming two distinct blobs. 123 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:16,760 Now there were some very interesting ideas bandied about on why this was happening and 124 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:22,440 why it would act differently when observed, but eventually the Copenhagen interpretation 125 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:25,680 was proposed by Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. 126 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:31,360 This quickly became one of the most taught theories in physics. 127 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:36,640 Now there was no way for them to know this at the time, but they had just proposed one 128 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:41,360 of physicists' favorite things to teach. 129 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:46,800 The theory was that the particle of light, unobserved, existed in both of the states 130 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:51,320 that it could have possibly existed, until it was observed. 131 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:54,720 It could have gone left, it could have gone right. 132 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:59,880 You see, this interference pattern could occur on the plate if there were two photon particles 133 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:02,560 of light traveling side by side. 134 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:07,260 It would produce the same interference pattern and the same individual dots on the negative 135 00:11:07,260 --> 00:11:09,560 plate. 136 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:16,760 Now an Australian physicist named Erwin Schrödinger took some real issues with this interpretation. 137 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:21,960 He took so much issue with this that he developed a thought experiment that would become famous, 138 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:25,440 known to most as Schrödinger's cat. 139 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:31,320 He did this to illustrate just how wrong their interpretation had been. 140 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:36,200 Again this is an oversimplification and it's leaving out a lot that isn't strictly required 141 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:41,000 for this discussion so that a wider audience might understand what I'm talking about here, 142 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,640 so forgive me that. 143 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:49,080 But Schrödinger's cat experiment was essentially having a cat in a non-see-through box with 144 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:54,840 a random chance of an airborne poison being released inside the box, killing the cat. 145 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:59,240 He rigged it up with a perfect 50-50 chance scenario. 146 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:05,020 He proposed that if the scientist had no way of knowing if the poison was released or not, 147 00:12:05,020 --> 00:12:10,760 and if the Copenhagen interpretation is accurate, then it stands to reason that until the box 148 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:17,360 is opened and the scene within it is observed, the cat would be simultaneously alive and 149 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:23,280 dead, a dual state of both at the same time. 150 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:29,000 Erwin brought this up and pointed out as evidence that this clearly cannot be the case. 151 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:37,020 That was 1935, what Schrödinger had unwittingly done was give the physics community a very 152 00:12:37,020 --> 00:12:42,640 simple way of communicating the concept of superposition. 153 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:49,600 The current theory in modern physics is that all things exist in all possible states until 154 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,720 measured or observed. 155 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:59,240 This means that until someone pays specific attention to something, that something exists 156 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:04,560 in all the possible ways it could exist in. 157 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:10,040 So just a pro tip here, this is much easier to wrap your head around if you try to remember 158 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:15,440 that all forms of matter are just energy in a different state. 159 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:20,560 One of the coolest aspects, in my opinion, is that in each of these positions that it's 160 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:27,860 possible for it to exist in, the amount of energy that something has is the same as the 161 00:13:27,860 --> 00:13:34,560 percentage of probability or likelihood of existing in that particular position. 162 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:42,680 So 5% chance that it's over here, 5% of it is over here. 163 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:49,040 I know this can be confusing, so picture a leather bag that has 10 marbles in it. 164 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:56,160 This bag has a long neck, and it's a drawstring pouch, and inside there are 9 green marbles 165 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:57,880 and 1 blue marble. 166 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:03,040 The bag's neck makes it impossible to peer in and see which marbles are which. 167 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:08,280 So let's say that I asked you to reach in and pull out 5 marbles, but don't open your 168 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:09,280 hand. 169 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:14,120 Let's also assume that you're holding the bag by its bottom, in your other hand, so 170 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:20,560 that between both of your hands you can feel the exact positions of all 10 marbles. 171 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:25,640 So within this setup, we now have 10 positions locked in place. 172 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:33,800 We know exactly where all 10 of these marbles are, but we don't know which marble is which. 173 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:37,180 Now let's discuss wave function collapse. 174 00:14:37,180 --> 00:14:41,360 This occurs when the state of something is observed. 175 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:48,480 While your hand is open, the blue marble has 10% of its energy in each known marble position. 176 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,920 The other 90% of each marble is the other 9 marbles. 177 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,600 Imagine that you open your hand and you look. 178 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:02,520 By whatever factors that made it more likely to be in the bag, there are only green marbles 179 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,040 in your hand. 180 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:11,640 In an instant, wave function collapse occurs and all 5 of those marbles' quantum super 181 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:18,520 positions snap into one single position for each, their scattered energy rushing into 182 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:23,080 a single position instantaneously. 183 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:30,780 And in that same instant, 50% of one blue marble's energy rushed into the bag, distributing 184 00:15:30,780 --> 00:15:36,320 itself amongst the other 5 remaining unknown marble positions, making each marble still 185 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,160 in the bag 20% blue marble. 186 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:45,920 The point is that once a marble is observed, all the possible positions it could have been 187 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:53,560 in and technically was in, collapse into one singular position where the marble definitively 188 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:55,280 is. 189 00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:00,360 Most believe that all of the other positions' energies rush into the position with the highest 190 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,720 probability slash most energy. 191 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:09,960 I know, this sounds hinky, it sounds wonky and implausible. 192 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:14,600 It pushes the boundaries of what makes sense and for first timers to the world of modern 193 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,760 physics, it seems completely unreal. 194 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:21,480 However, this is the prevailing theory today. 195 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:23,960 The math adds up. 196 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:28,920 And most physicists would tell you that this is just a drop in the bucket to our bizarre 197 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,280 reality. 198 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:35,480 There is a point that past it, logic just seems to fall apart. 199 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:42,360 A place that I lovingly refer to as the subatomic shoreline, where that logic gets dashed against 200 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,240 the rocks of reality. 201 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:49,440 Particles for the most part are one of two types. 202 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:55,720 You have composite particles, atoms, hadrons and molecules, meaning they are composed of 203 00:16:55,720 --> 00:17:02,200 smaller subatomic particles, and you have elementary particles like leptons, quarks 204 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:06,920 and bosons, meaning that we can't determine if they are made up of subatomic particles 205 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:08,800 or not. 206 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,760 And for the physicists and scientists in the crowd, here's a little joke that I wrote 207 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:18,480 years and years ago that I doubt anybody but you will get. 208 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:24,400 What is the atomic weight of a lepton found in ice cream? 209 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,440 Depends on the flavor. 210 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:31,440 Trust me, if you tell that to a physicist that knows they are subatomic particles, they 211 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,120 are going to laugh. 212 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:42,440 So anyways, it's around the subatomic level that we see serious mind-bending craziness. 213 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:46,680 Einstein's own spooky action at a distance theory, for example, was discovered in the 214 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,720 behavior of subatomic particles. 215 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:55,560 When two particles are created in the same instant and point in space, they become what 216 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,680 we refer to as quantumly entangled. 217 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:06,600 This means that they've become connected in a way that seems to have no regard for distance. 218 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:11,840 For instance, if you have two quantumly entangled particles that are taken to opposite sides 219 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:18,200 of your city or your country or your planet and you change the polarity of one of those 220 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:27,200 particles, instantaneously the polarity of the other particle would flip. 221 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:30,440 Doesn't matter how far away. 222 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:37,920 It could theoretically be across the galaxy or the universe. 223 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:44,280 There's so much about elementary particles that not only do we not understand, but that 224 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:50,360 seem to fly in the face of and break the laws that govern everything else. 225 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:55,400 Some particles seem to exist in two places simultaneously. 226 00:18:55,400 --> 00:19:00,200 And the theory that the Higgs boson particles have the ability to reverse their own position 227 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:06,360 in time to prevent being discovered has actually gained a surprising amount of traction amongst 228 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:13,400 the physics community, particularly among the physicists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. 229 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:19,140 Particles are constantly passing through us and cannot physically be contained, lest they 230 00:19:19,140 --> 00:19:24,080 form a superfluid, forcing their way out of the container no matter what the container's 231 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,560 strength or density. 232 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,620 It's even been theorized that there's only one electron in our universe that travels 233 00:19:31,620 --> 00:19:36,760 backwards and forwards in time, eventually holding the position of every single electron 234 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,560 in existence. 235 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:44,760 David Lindley, an accomplished physicist, author, and a man who spent much of his career 236 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,480 pondering the very fringes of human understanding said, 237 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,080 The bottom line is this. 238 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,880 The quantum world just doesn't work the way that the world around us works. 239 00:19:55,880 --> 00:20:00,140 We don't really have the concepts to deal with it. 240 00:20:00,140 --> 00:20:05,320 My point in bringing up the subatomic shoreline is that there seems to be a very steep drop 241 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:08,400 off past that line. 242 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:13,880 And we can reach out, like we always do, extending ourselves with our cleverness and mathematics 243 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,840 and hypothesize what's going on beyond it. 244 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:24,620 But we can only detect so much, and we only have frame of reference for so much. 245 00:20:24,620 --> 00:20:30,120 The human mind, amazing as it is, is limited. 246 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:37,680 And the further out that reach and our understanding goes, the less solid of a grasp a person can 247 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:42,860 have on each of the rungs that they climb to reach that point. 248 00:20:42,860 --> 00:20:48,600 We have a limited lifespan, and every single thing that's learned takes time to learn and 249 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:49,800 understand. 250 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:54,080 Every single connection mentally made takes time and attention. 251 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:56,480 And one can only learn so much. 252 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:01,200 And quite a lot of the human race really isn't that interested in reaching out over that 253 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:06,640 line enough to learn everything that's needed to be learned in order to extend said reach 254 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,680 further. 255 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:15,680 Now bring up one more study before I finally cut to the chase here. 256 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:23,560 In 2013, I reached out to a large group of people and asked them to submit to me a detailed 257 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:31,000 account of a very specific phenomenon that I myself had personally experienced, one that 258 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:35,200 several people I had known in my life had experienced. 259 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:41,720 The experience in question for me was a powerful and moving moment, and due to hearing my little 260 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:48,880 brother explain his own encounter with it, I had come to believe that a pattern was emerging, 261 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,180 one that I had seen elsewhere. 262 00:21:52,180 --> 00:21:59,520 My own personal experience had been, when I was 16 years old, my father died rather 263 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,180 suddenly. 264 00:22:02,180 --> 00:22:08,760 I would love to spend the next 20 to 80 pages gushing over the kind and brilliant person 265 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:15,340 my father spent his life being, but we need to keep moving. 266 00:22:15,340 --> 00:22:19,300 His death devastated me completely. 267 00:22:19,300 --> 00:22:25,880 It came suddenly, and I still have a hard time thinking about that moment and just how 268 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:31,640 much we lost in our family and how it was suddenly gone. 269 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:37,320 nominee snake once wrote that losing someone you love unexpectedly is like climbing stairs 270 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:43,060 in the dark and thinking that there's one more step, only there isn't. 271 00:22:43,060 --> 00:22:47,960 That sickening moment that your entire world gets completely turned upside down and you 272 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:54,840 lose your orientation and your certainty, only not just for a moment, stretched out 273 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,700 over months and months. 274 00:22:58,700 --> 00:23:04,160 One week after the aneurysm took him, I had a dream. 275 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:09,320 I had just exited the previous dream and found myself in a white room. 276 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:16,140 My family all stood side by side in a line in front of me, left to right. 277 00:23:16,140 --> 00:23:25,280 My little sister, my three younger brothers, my mother, and my dad. 278 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:31,040 They all stood there, not moving a muscle, looking off at some distant point behind me 279 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,080 like they were on display. 280 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,440 I looked at my father again. 281 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:42,640 I felt it creeping up to my throat. 282 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:49,040 In a dream, I'm not great at actively pulling knowledge from my awake life, but even in 283 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:53,160 a dream, I knew that he wasn't supposed to be there. 284 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,840 I wasn't supposed to be able to see him anymore. 285 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,600 I didn't understand in the dream that he had died. 286 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:09,480 I only knew that I was in a great deal of pain over not being able to see him anymore. 287 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:16,800 As it overtook my throat and the pressure pushed the tears forth, I saw his face soften 288 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:21,160 and his eyes turned to me. 289 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:27,080 You know when you start to cry in that dream and you can feel your awake self starting 290 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,160 to cry. 291 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:35,080 He had that expression one would wear if they wanted to surprise someone they love and then 292 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:39,680 that person unexpectedly starts sobbing uncontrollably. 293 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:47,760 He shed the statue-like facade and rushed in and picked me up and hugged me. 294 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:57,440 I remember him squeezing me so tightly and me hugging him fiercely and just being buried 295 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:03,900 in that smell that was so distinctly him, being surrounded by his warmth and the slightly 296 00:25:03,900 --> 00:25:07,880 muffled and rumbly sound of his voice trying to soothe me. 297 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:12,040 Hey, no, no, no, no, no, no. 298 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:18,600 I know that he said something to me right before the dream ended, but I was so far gone 299 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:25,160 down the freefall of fresh grief sobbing I couldn't be sure of what it was. 300 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:30,960 I have since become convinced that he had offered the same goodbye slash advice that 301 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,640 he would when my siblings and I left for school in the mornings. 302 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:39,600 Alright boys, be sweet. 303 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:45,360 The fatal moment to any dream when there's nothing you can do to hold onto the dream 304 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:50,960 and you slide against your will back to the waking world. 305 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:56,760 I clutched my pillow, practically trying to squeeze my way back into the dream through 306 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:05,440 it, sobbing loudly and feeling the pressure of his arms and his chest disappearing. 307 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:10,560 I sobbed for a few minutes straight, once again dealing with relearning that he wasn't 308 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:15,960 by some miraculous stroke of luck here again, but had died and was still gone and that wasn't 309 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:20,360 something that was ever going to change. 310 00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:28,840 But in the middle of my heaving sobs, I sucked in a deep breath and stopped. 311 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:33,600 My pillow smelled exactly like my father's flannel shirt. 312 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:38,840 I had just had my face buried in moments before. 313 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:46,760 He, like most of us, had a very distinctive scent. 314 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:52,000 There's an aspect of a visit dream that no one can convey to someone who's never had 315 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,000 one. 316 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:59,040 There's something about that visitor, something that you can feel. 317 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:04,680 They feel like the person themselves and not some generated version of themselves in the 318 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,280 dream. 319 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:13,960 Something deep within you recognizes that it is actually them. 320 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:20,560 In 2013, I collected the written descriptions of close to 50 submitters' visit dreams to 321 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:25,160 check for a pattern that had begun to emerge after hearing about my brother's visit dream 322 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:30,680 from his best friend shortly after he had been murdered. 323 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,800 In the dream, they had been hanging out at our family home and then headed over to a 324 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:40,520 fort slash hangout that they had built together, one of many. 325 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:45,400 Clayton had come to realize that Frank was dead, but refused to show it and played it 326 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,680 casual. 327 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:54,120 They got to the fort and hung out a bit longer, laughing and reminiscing and just being in 328 00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:57,600 each other's company. 329 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:01,480 After a time, Clayton looked up and said, 330 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:06,800 Frank, how is it where you are? 331 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,280 Frank just smiled at the question. 332 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,280 I'm good. 333 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:16,320 With that, the dream left Clayton awake. 334 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:21,080 Clayton confided in me about this while we stood outside the building at Frank's funeral, 335 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,760 talking and sharing a smoke. 336 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:31,640 Once I looked over the many stories I'd been sent, the pattern became evident. 337 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:36,900 You see, once the dreamer lets on that they know the departed loved one is gone, or lets 338 00:28:36,900 --> 00:28:42,960 on that they are not supposed to be able to be in their company again, a very interesting 339 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:45,840 thing seems to happen. 340 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:53,240 There are precious few seconds left after that moment, and then you begin to wait. 341 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:58,080 Sometimes the dreamer asks them a question, or the departed says something to the dreamer, 342 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:05,960 but in all 48 cases I read, not one of the question askers got a definitive answer, and 343 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,120 the dreams ended directly after that. 344 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:16,480 I'm okay, it's okay, was one of them. 345 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:25,480 Often they just smile, or tell you they love you, or hug you extra tight, and then the 346 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,600 dream is done. 347 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:35,240 They don't seem to be allowed to tell us anything definitive, no answers that tell us if there 348 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,600 is or isn't an afterlife. 349 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:43,960 No, the good news is, yes, there is a heaven and we play baseball all the time. 350 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:48,840 The bad news is, you're scheduled to pitch next week. 351 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:53,680 No answers that tell us if there is or isn't an afterlife. 352 00:29:53,680 --> 00:30:02,040 Only sweet, if sometimes cryptic, communications of love or peace. 353 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:08,720 With the subatomic shoreline, the tiny range of human detection, the rods and cones and 354 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:15,200 rules of the visitor's dreams, we finally arrive at the point of this chapter. 355 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:21,720 I'm pretty sure that we are not allowed to prove or know with any degree of certainty 356 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:27,120 that there is a god and that there is an afterlife. 357 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:33,000 It seems to be a very important rule in the design of our universe that we don't get 358 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,280 to know for certain. 359 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:41,240 We are not allowed to know for good reason. 360 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:47,160 From what I've seen, it is important that we choose to care about each other, to be 361 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:54,920 kind to each other as a decision, and that we make those choices without ever being given 362 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:59,880 a definitive proof of that creative force. 363 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:05,600 There are so many people out there that only really pursue being kind to one another because 364 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:10,160 their religious text says that if they're kind to others, they'll get riches in heaven, 365 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,800 and that if they're bad to others, they'll burn in hell. 366 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:18,480 Hopefully have been able to offer a better understanding of the logical side of why we 367 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:20,960 should be kind to each other. 368 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:25,320 Not because you'll get treasures, but because you have brought yourself to love these other 369 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:26,400 people. 370 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:33,240 The treasure should be considered as the reward for doing the right thing, not the motivation. 371 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:43,760 The design of our very existence seems to have a focus on two primary targets. 372 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:51,080 We're supposed to love each other, and be good to each other, and care about each other. 373 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:56,200 And the other is to find your faith. 374 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:03,200 After all, by the core definition of the phrase, it's not a leap of faith if you can see where 375 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,040 you're going to land. 376 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:11,880 So we find ourselves stuck in a point that steadily progresses through time, with only 377 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,220 our predictions to guide the way. 378 00:32:14,220 --> 00:32:20,220 This is so terrifying that it literally is every single form of fear that you've ever 379 00:32:20,220 --> 00:32:24,480 felt just in different flavors. 380 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:31,560 And there is only one thing that seems to deflate the core fear of the unknown. 381 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:37,840 It's faith. 382 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:44,640 Being stuck in our own current state and time, we can't see the whole picture of what might 383 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,200 happen and what that might lead to. 384 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:54,840 However, a creator would exist outside of those rules and constraints that it created. 385 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:59,880 It would view time like a sculpture that's ever shifting with probable outcomes and probable 386 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:01,760 choices. 387 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:08,480 Not only that, but that sculpture is literally made of God, so it knows every molecule, photon, 388 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:10,640 and wavelength in the universe. 389 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:16,880 We are blind pilots, and we have the option of trusting the voice on the other end of 390 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:18,360 the headset. 391 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:23,780 The one that knows every single possible path that can be taken safely, and how happy each 392 00:33:23,780 --> 00:33:26,680 destination will make us in the future. 393 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:32,120 Sure, God's guidance isn't always as simple as a voice on the other end of the radio giving 394 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:36,840 us answers and directions right after we ask the questions. 395 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:42,600 We are so fixated in our position and time that it conditions us to expect results right 396 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:44,780 away. 397 00:33:44,780 --> 00:33:50,520 Even the wisest of the human race sometimes get frustrated with this and just wish whatever 398 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:54,760 it is that they were waiting for would hurry it up already. 399 00:33:54,760 --> 00:34:02,280 But God does things in the time in which they are best to happen, and not every time is 400 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:03,280 right now. 401 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:08,040 In the meanwhile, faith. 402 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:14,160 Faith that God will do what is necessary when it is best to do so. 403 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:20,360 This means trusting God, which is a critical component to the joy and peace that I felt 404 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:25,640 in so much abundance during my journey. 405 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:30,280 A lot of the time though, you won't get that confirmation. 406 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:34,840 When most refer to making leaps of faith, they're talking about the big jumps, but it 407 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:40,880 doesn't mean that there aren't small jumps as well. 408 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:45,480 I get confirmation when I actually need confirmation. 409 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:50,100 And more and more often, I find that I don't need confirmation to figure out if it's the 410 00:34:50,100 --> 00:34:54,240 right thing to do or not. 411 00:34:54,240 --> 00:34:59,080 Potential good when you're not afraid to do it. 412 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:03,180 Pretty easy to spot. 413 00:35:03,180 --> 00:35:07,560 And there will be some unpleasant things that you'll need to wade through in this life. 414 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:12,360 And sometimes you have to survive through it and emerge on the other side in order for 415 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:15,280 something truly wonderful to happen. 416 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:22,840 And often those truly wonderful things happen for someone else. 417 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:28,960 Sometimes you may be a big part in helping someone else's prayer or need or reward. 418 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:34,720 Not every story being told is about you after all. 419 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:42,920 But no matter what may happen, those that keep faith and care about and do for others 420 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:48,440 will wind up exactly where it is best for them to be in this life. 421 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:55,000 Where in others' lives it is best for them to be as well. 422 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,040 Complete faith defeats all fear completely. 423 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:05,240 It's the only effective anecdote that I've ever found. 424 00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:11,100 I think the struggle of loving and trusting God and man, and the struggle of coming to 425 00:36:11,100 --> 00:36:19,280 faith in a God you cannot prove, are two of the most important struggles of human existence. 426 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:27,640 So much so that our reality has been carefully constructed to support the struggle for and 427 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:44,320 against both. 428 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:46,680 And that is it for me today. 429 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:48,440 Thank you for coming to the reading. 430 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:52,640 We touched on the Copenhagen Interpretation Day, which I want to stress to those of you 431 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:54,200 that don't know. 432 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:59,880 This is physics' most generally accepted theory on how things behave when unobserved and then 433 00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:04,440 observed, and I want to take a second to connect the first string before we launch into the 434 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,600 episode in which we connect all of this together. 435 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:10,220 That's right. 436 00:37:10,220 --> 00:37:13,840 That is the next episode. 437 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:18,960 The Copenhagen Interpretation, the understanding that all things exist in all possible positions 438 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:26,240 and states until observed, is extremely supportive of the idea that A. God aids us through the 439 00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:32,760 skin of the world, and B. It gives a very interesting method that God might corral the 440 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:38,880 many optional paths they design that we choose our way through toward things that need to 441 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:39,880 happen. 442 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,320 Think about it. 443 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:47,320 If all things that are unobserved fluctuate how they wind up once wave function collapse 444 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:53,520 occurs, it gives an incredible amount of leeway for God to steer events through manipulation 445 00:37:53,520 --> 00:38:00,160 of chance, which, as we just covered, allows there to always be plausible deniability when 446 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,560 it comes to proving God as fact. 447 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:09,480 It makes it so that God can still intervene, assist, and protect without ever risking being 448 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:12,600 definitively provable. 449 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:19,280 So have faith, you can't ever know for certain, but you can choose to believe it, and let 450 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:26,960 go of the fear that follows the uncertainty, especially the fear that precedes loving openly 451 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,880 and caring about the rest of them. 452 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:32,480 He's got you covered. 453 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,840 Choose to believe. 454 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,280 Choose to be good to them. 455 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:38,280 To be good for them. 456 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:45,080 And you're gonna be great. 457 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:46,080 Be sweet. 458 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:47,080 Bye everybody. 459 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:57,240 You can check out the YouTube channel at youtube.com slash could help. 460 00:38:57,240 --> 00:39:01,240 You can contact the podcast at willhelpmail at gmail.com. 461 00:39:01,240 --> 00:39:05,560 Come talk about this stuff, ask questions, hear what others think at r slash the laughing 462 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:10,880 matters on Reddit, and you can stay up to date with the show's Facebook page at facebook.com 463 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:12,360 slash I could help. 464 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:36,200 And of course, the laughing matters.com.