Can someone with QM knowledge debunk this guy?

Wheelspawn · #1 by **Wheelspawn** » Oct 09, 2018 3:11 am

Hi all,

I sometimes watch videos by a YouTuber who does self-help related topics. In the past they were mostly related to things like productivity, money and relationships, but in the last year or so he has done topics based on sketchier claims--for example, that reality is mental and not physical, non-duality and other new age ideas. In one recent video he even claimed to be God--apparently he discovered this with the help of psychedelic drugs.

In this video, he purports that QM proves materialism is false. I hesitate to ask someone to "debunk" it because that assumes his claims to be wrong from the get-go, but my knowledge of physics does not go beyond classical mechanics so I do not have the tools necessary to evaluate his claims--I can tell when something sounds fishy, but not much more.

Can someone with a stronger physics background take a look at it? The videos is quite long, so don't feel obligated to watch the whole thing or watch it in one sitting. Thanks.

Keep It Real · #2 by **Keep It Real** » Oct 09, 2018 9:12 am

"I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics." ~ Richard Feynman.

I watched the first half hour of the vid and he admits to being no expert about the details of quantum mechanics. How such a person can claim to be embodied refutation of the above quote is beyond me. He also claims that watching and fully incorporating this vid into one's worldview will be fatal...and yet he lives. Basically cuckoo cuckoo.

Matt_B · #3 by **Matt_B** » Oct 09, 2018 9:32 am

Yeah, it's just a Gish gallop of kooky claims.

At the end of the day, QM is a set of mathematical models that happen to very accurately describe the material universe without reference to anything non-material. You might have to throw out a lot of the assumptions of classical mechanics to adapt to it, but materialism (or methodological naturalism as I'd prefer to frame it) isn't one of them.

Cito di Pense · #4 by **Cito di Pense** » Oct 09, 2018 11:19 am

Wheelspawn wrote:
In this video, he purports that QM proves materialism is false.

So what if somebody purports QM proves materialism is false? Do you think this kind of wibble could prove you have an immortal soul? I mean, nobody really knows what materialism entails, but folks do tend to declare what materialism entails, as if they were Big Thinkers, by pinching the shit out of their asses and proudly showing it to you.

Wheelspawn wrote:I can tell when something sounds fishy

No, it doesn't seem as if you can. If you want to believe you have an immortal soul, go right ahead, as long as you don't insist it obliges me in any way. The key to skepticism is deciding what you have time for, and what you don't have time for. Time is short, unless, of course, you believe you have an immortal soul.

Wheelspawn · #5 by **Wheelspawn** » Dec 03, 2018 2:19 am

Cito di Pense wrote:
No, it doesn't seem as if you can. If you want to believe you have an immortal soul, go right ahead, as long as you don't insist it obliges me in any way. The key to skepticism is deciding what you have time for, and what you don't have time for. Time is short, unless, of course, you believe you have an immortal soul.

Did I say I believe in an immortal soul? Sounds like you are putting words in my mouth.

Cito di Pense · #6 by **Cito di Pense** » Dec 03, 2018 5:45 am

Wheelspawn wrote:
Cito di Pense wrote:
No, it doesn't seem as if you can. If you want to believe you have an immortal soul, go right ahead, as long as you don't insist it obliges me in any way. The key to skepticism is deciding what you have time for, and what you don't have time for. Time is short, unless, of course, you believe you have an immortal soul.

Did I say I believe in an immortal soul? Sounds like you are putting words in my mouth.

Sorry, WS, not you specifically. Maybe just the author of the video. There's stuff you simply should not pay very much attention to, unless you want to believe it. There is so much shit on the internet; it's not all going to get debunked.

felltoearth · #7 by **felltoearth** » Dec 03, 2018 2:59 pm

Most of it is self refuting. As Matt_B said, we know about and verify QM through material evidence underpinned by a lot of math. To say QM debunks materialism is like saying a falling object debunks gravity.

Wheelspawn · #8 by **Wheelspawn** » Dec 20, 2018 10:53 pm

To say that QM debunks materialism is essentially saying that something developed under the materialist worldview debunks the materialist worldview... which makes no fucking sense.

Cito di Pense · #9 by **Cito di Pense** » Dec 20, 2018 11:25 pm

Wheelspawn wrote:To say that QM debunks materialism is essentially saying that something developed under the materialist worldview debunks the materialist worldview... which makes no fucking sense.

I don't think anyone who says QM debunks materialism really cares much. Materialism is just metaphysics, too. As such, it's pretty easy to debunk, as you've seen. It's also pretty easy not to give a fuck about what is said about metaphysics. You should try it.