Is there something wrong in the world - or is it in my head?
Invisible spots in the sun, some kind of dust on the grass
Happiness does not warm; it is somewhere behind a glass wall
Sometimes it seems to me - heavy rock hangs over me
BG
Hello Habr! I would like to discuss with you the "Developed" series , as I consider it one of the most striking recent events. Some time has passed since I watched it, but different thoughts are still roaming in my head, which I want to somehow express in this article and share with the community.
Probably I won't be able to clean up something under the spoilers, because I want to discuss everything more or less thoroughly. Therefore, if someone wants to watch this series with a fresh mind, it is better for him to postpone reading this article until later.
First, I will briefly formulate the main idea: finally, someone was not afraid to make a series about philosophical, moral and scientific problems associated with quantum theories and quantum computing.
If you will, I will not focus too much on the creepy mugs killing each other in various ways, as well as on the modern-looking heroine that we often see in modern-looking underwear. I really liked it all too :) But I would like to devote most of the discussion to the topics in which the series is really strong.
The curse of determinism
The theme of determinism and the illusion of freedom runs through the entire series and is the main philosophical core on which all events are strung. It all starts with predicting the behavior of the earthworm, and ends with a complete modeling of reality directed both into the past and into the future. The strongest impression is produced by the series towards the end of the series, when the heroes know about what will happen, but they cannot do anything about it, although they are completely free in their desires, thoughts and actions. This curse of determinism is demonstrated very talentedly and from different angles.
The situation is a little worse with the second half of this dilemma - namely, with the demonstration of free will. Somewhere closer to the middle of the action, the viewer is informed that soon the determinism of the universe will be violated by some extraordinary event, and this event will be associated with the main character, who by some inhuman effort, but will show free will.
So - this very act was shown so poorly that I do not even remember what exactly happened - whether she took a gun with her, or did not take it. In the future, according to the plot, it generally seemed that her act did not affect the very outcome. In general, if an act is declared that changes the fate of the universe, then I would like something brighter and more memorable.
But there is another theme in the series, which, in my opinion, has been worked out very interestingly and with filigree precision.
An untimely departure to the worlds of Everett
We are talking about the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which is otherwise called the Everett interpretation. The bearer of Everett's idea in the series is a young boy. He almost fanatically believed in this theory and what happened to him, in principle, shows what should happen to any more or less consistent defender of this theory.
I consider the scene at the edge of the waterfall to be the most powerful scene in the series. It combines predestination and free will, the desire for truth and the fear of death, as well as the everyday life with which a person is asked to take his own life. It takes no more than two minutes from the start of the conversation to the jump into the abyss.
The idea offered to the boy was simple - if you believe in the multivariance of the world, then you have nothing to fear from death - in some of the worlds you will definitely survive. I think this idea came from the authors of the series not from scratch.
Quantum machine gun - a weapon of the brave
The idea of the "Quantum Machine Gun" experiment is described by Tegmark in his book "Our Mathematical Universe". As you know, it is impossible to attack Everett's theory from a strictly scientific point of view, but Tegmark managed to find a cunning move and troll its supporters a little. He described the following experiment. A machine gun is taken, each shot of which is determined by the outcome of a quantum event: with one outcome, the shot turns out to be a real one, with the other blank.
The researcher aims the quantum machine gun at himself and gives the command to fire. If the many-worlds interpretation is correct, then the researcher will hear only a series of blank shots. Alive and unharmed, he will return to the circle of his family and friends, and in the scientific world (in the world where he survived) he will become something like a saint and Nobel Prizes will be paid to him for a hundred years.
If the researcher does not dare to undertake this generally simple experiment (all equipment can be found in the laboratory of any institute), then he himself does not fully believe in what he says and he should not fool honest people with all this nonsense.
Fragile gears of the universe
The central device in the series is a quantum computer (for some reason a little similar to the device from the movie Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession :). Therefore, I would also like to touch on the topic of quantum computing.
For many years, the topic of elementary particle physics has been covered from the position of various accelerators, synchrophasotrons and other devices for the destruction of elementary particles. On this path, there were many interesting discoveries and we learned a lot. But when the topic of quantum computing began to develop, one thought persistently pursues me.
Pushing particles against each other with more and more sophisticated methods and at higher energies, we are like those who want to understand the structure of the clockwork more and more by hitting it with a sledgehammer. And studying the clumsy and broken gears flying out of there in disarray, we may go a little aside from the correct understanding of things.
Maybe you need to act in a completely different way. Carefully, trying not to damage anything, use the lightest screwdriver to slightly open the watch lid and see what is inside and how it all ticks. It seems to me that quantum computing is an effort in this direction. After all, it is quite clear that entangled particles create correlations. Since, in the Universe, a lot of things are confused with something, then most likely there are whole fields of correlations about which we do not know anything. I think the effort towards quantum computing will reveal some special fragile mathematics of the universe.
The power of consciousness over matter
One of the brightest conceptual ideas in the series was that when the developers start up their hellish machine, the first thing they do is focus it on the moment of the crucifixion of Christ. This is a completely logical and the only correct step. When we have the opportunity to look into the past, the first step is to find out what happened to Christ. I am writing this without any irony. Because it's really important to understand what really happened.
But the authors of the series paid tribute to Eastern philosophy (although they did it almost imperceptibly). In one of the frames, a brush appears on the screen of a quantum computer, deepening into an object. Of course I could be wrong, but in my opinion we are talking about the famous yoga Milarepa, who was known for leaving prints in rocks with his bare hands. It seems like the cave where he lived has been preserved and the prints of his palms have been preserved there.
I have my own theory of how this happened - if you put your palm to one place for forty years, I think that a completely visible imprint will remain. I believe that my theory does not detract from the merits of the respected yogi, but on the contrary increases, showing that spirit can be stronger than matter without attracting any mysticism.
The final that was not
At the end of the series, the main characters go into quantum virtual reality, where everyone has found or will find everything that he lost in real life. We see happy faces blown by the quantum wind of freedom and dialogues designed to emphasize that from now on everything will be different.
However, in the very last shot (already in real reality) we see an American senator (a woman, of course) whose sad and tired face reflects the entire burden of government. She looks thoughtfully at everything that these people have done, left without government supervision.
And, of course, she had to say in a tired voice: “Unfortunately, the US government can no longer finance all this quantum nonsense,” and then pull the switch to stop all uncontrolled wave functions and, in general, any excitement and independent thought processes.
But for some reason this did not happen.