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00:00 How many blinks does the average person blink in a day?
00:03 How about in a week, a month, or a lifetime?
00:06 And how much time does that person then spend during their lives, with their eyes closed,
00:12 because they're mid-blink?
00:13 Unsurprisingly, finding an answer for any of those questions is far from an exact science.
00:18 It all depends on massive variables like life expectancy, leap years, and how much time
00:23 you spend sleeping.
00:24 But it is possible to get a ballpark figure.
00:27 Say you blink every four seconds on average.
00:30 That means 15 blinks a minute, 900 an hour, and 14,400 a day, if you sleep for eight hours.
00:37 That's 5,256,000 in a non-leap year, and 394,200,000 blinks in a lifetime if you live to be 75.
00:47 As for the time spent with your eyes actually closed, again, the data varies.
00:51 But if we said that each blink lasts for one-fifth of a second, and for ease, let's round our
00:56 394,200,000 lifetime blinks up to a simpler 400 million instead.
01:02 That means we spend around 80 million seconds blinking all the blinks we ever blink.
01:07 Bizarrely, that's 22,222.22 recurring hours, which is 925 days, which is two and a half
01:16 years.
01:17 Based on all of the above, we all spend two and a half years of our lives with our eyes
01:22 closed because we're blinking.
01:24 Already that realisation could feel quite disconcerting, like it's almost a thousand
01:29 days of inescapably lost time.
01:31 However, perhaps all is not lost, and in fact, maybe blinking, rather than a waste of time,
01:37 is actually the most exciting thing that any of us ever do.
01:41 To find out why, we need to head on over to the other side.
01:45 This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; do we enter a
01:50 parallel universe when we blink?
01:53 Do you need the big questions answered?
01:55 Are you constantly curious?
01:56 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
01:59 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
02:03 The act of blinking is an essential bodily function to keep our eyes moist and free of
02:07 debris.
02:08 It's also an involuntary action.
02:10 None of us chooses when to blink, our bodies just ensure that we do, time and time again,
02:15 like clockwork.
02:16 It's not something that anyone typically questions.
02:18 But, actually, thanks to some of the most bizarre arms of modern, theoretical science,
02:24 there could also be an all-new world every single time our eyes close.
02:29 As is so often the case, blinking into a parallel universe is an idea that ties to the ever-increasing
02:34 murkiness of quantum mechanics, and more specifically, quantum superposition.
02:40 This is a fundamental property of particles in the quantum realm.
02:43 It describes how they can occupy multiple locations, energy levels, spin directions,
02:49 multiple states, simultaneously… and is in contrast to a classical understanding of
02:54 reality, where objects can only ever be in one state at a time.
02:59 For example, a coin.
03:01 Classically, it can be either heads or tails, but at the quantum level it can be both heads
03:06 and tails at once.
03:08 Its quantum state is a superposition of both possibilities, and ultimately it's the same
03:13 principle for every other possible thing you could imagine.
03:18 From here, we can apply the many-worlds interpretation.
03:21 A famous theory as to how the world really works, it takes things even further by suggesting
03:26 that every possible outcome of any event ever - including any quantum event - actually does
03:32 occur, but in separate, branching universes.
03:35 It says that every choice you make, and every event that unfolds, should spawn new worlds
03:40 where the consequences of that moment are played out.
03:43 It's easy to picture if, say, you're at a fork in a literal road and you take either
03:48 the left or right turn… but really, this kind of split is happening all the time, all
03:54 around us.
03:55 And, perhaps, thousands of times a second if we boil it all the way down to the quantum
03:59 level.
04:00 Which brings us back to blinking.
04:02 Because, although one blink requires comfortably less than one second to complete, it's an
04:07 action that's actually significantly more dramatic than all of the countless subatomic
04:12 firings that are endlessly happening at the same time.
04:15 In this way, then, theoretically speaking, it seemingly fits that every time you blink
04:20 you at least create parallel universes, as per the many-worlds interpretation.
04:26 That phrase, theoretically speaking, is important, though.
04:29 At present, there's still no clear evidence to confirm that blinking is connected with
04:32 making or transitioning between these hypothetical planes.
04:35 It's just that if you accept the many-worlds interpretation as true throughout the universe,
04:41 then it's apparently inevitable.
04:42 Every time we blink, a new arm of the multiverse is made… just as it is every time you smile,
04:48 frown, click your fingers, or scratch your nose.
04:51 Ultimately, though, there is another way of approaching the question, and perhaps another
04:55 avenue down which blink universes do happen.
04:58 We need to also consider the observer effect and wavefunction collapse.
05:03 According again to quantum mechanics, the act of observing something at the quantum
05:07 level is what forces it to be whatever it's seen as.
05:10 This in short, is the wavefunction collapse.
05:13 It's when the quantum entity is forced to choose just one state from its superposition
05:17 of possibilities.
05:19 In the previous coin example, if we observe the coin, it will either be heads or tails.
05:24 The act of observation has caused it to essentially choose one or the other.
05:29 From the point of view of blinking, here's where it could again get pretty interesting.
05:33 Clearly, when we blink, our eyelids cover our eyes for a brief moment and we do not
05:37 see what's in front of us.
05:39 Might it be, then, that this momentary darkness also creates an environment where the observer
05:44 effect is paused and quantum superposition occurs again?
05:49 While as before, this isn't a proven concept, it arguably does make sense within the current
05:54 understanding of quantum phenomena.
05:56 It also triggers further questions about the true nature of consciousness and conscious
06:00 reality.
06:01 When we blink, our external environment is effectively removed from our conscious experience
06:06 for the duration of that blink.
06:08 From moment to moment, it appears inconsequential… but as we found at the beginning of this video,
06:13 it means that we do not perceive our surroundings for a total of two and a half years over the
06:18 course of our lifetimes.
06:19 That's a lot of time for the world around us to perhaps be suspended in an undetermined
06:25 state.
06:26 So, can we ever really know what's happening to it without us watching?
06:30 And in the meantime, where are we, our conscious selves, during our blink time?
06:36 From a slightly more grounded, less immediately far-fetched position, cosmology and neuroscience
06:41 offer up some further thoughts.
06:43 While we often say that something happens in the blink of an eye, it's not always the
06:47 case that whatever that something was really did just take a fifth of a second to complete.
06:52 However, scale up to the universe level and it becomes clear that ultimately, every blink
06:57 contains infinite possibilities.
07:00 Perhaps during your last blink, it was precisely then that some far-off star was born out of
07:05 cosmic dust.
07:06 Or maybe during your next blink, the orbit of a distant moon will deviate just enough
07:10 to ensure that it will finally drift away from its host planet.
07:14 More generally, and applying the universal constant of the speed of light in a vacuum,
07:19 we can say that during every blink, light travels 37,200 miles (i.e. one-fifth of light
07:26 speed's 186,000 miles per second), which is the equivalent of travelling one and a
07:31 half times around the Earth.
07:34 Even without parallel worlds, then, it's clear that there is a lot happening every
07:37 time our eyes briefly shut.
07:39 From the perspective of neuroscience, it's previously been suggested that blinking could
07:43 indeed offer more than simply being a function to wet our eyes.
07:47 It can also be viewed as providing something like a tiny nap for the brain, a process that
07:52 requires around a twentieth of our time all the time.
07:55 It's something that, to some degree, gives our mental gears a millisecond break, helping
08:01 to reset attention and perhaps maintain efficiency.
08:04 In this way, most neuroscientists likely wouldn't conclude that every blink is a portal to a
08:09 parallel universe.
08:10 Rather, it's simply a function to transport us into darkness momentarily, which our brains
08:16 can then cleverly "edit out" to provide us with the general feeling that we have continuous
08:21 vision.
08:22 When you combine that with the realisation of all that we miss during a blink, it's
08:26 quite a trick that the brain is pulling.
08:28 But, still, the fact remains that for that one twentieth of our time, for those two and
08:33 a half years of our lifetimes, we are inescapably prevented from seeing what's supposedly right
08:38 in front of us.
08:39 And, as well as that, if the many worlds interpretation holds true, then we're also spawning all
08:44 new branches to a quantum multiverse.
08:47 With every blink, new worlds are made… and, perhaps, we ourselves are briefly pulled out
08:53 of our cosmic position.
08:55 So what do you think?
08:56 Have you ever thought about blinking quite so much?
08:58 And are you now maddeningly aware of all the blinks you're blinking right now?
09:03 As our understanding of the quantum world expands, we may one day find out if there
09:07 truly is a portal to infinite possibilities within such a basic biological function.
09:12 As our knowledge of the human brain improves, we might soon discover that blinking is only
09:16 a physical necessity.
09:18 As our appreciation of human consciousness evolves, there might be some kind of middle
09:23 ground between the two.
09:25 For now, the idea that we could blink into a different universe is hypothetical, theoretical,
09:30 speculative… it is by no means proven.
09:33 And yet, with this most simple of acts, could there be more than meets the eye?
09:39 If you enjoyed this episode, then be sure to stay on the video for another, related
09:43 episode from our recent archive… all about another parallel universe theory.
09:48 In this world, and maybe in all others, it's starting right about… now.
09:54 From our perspective, the universe is pretty big.
09:57 Ninety-three billion light-years across, and that's just the observable part of it.
10:01 The unobservable could well stretch on indefinitely.
10:04 At last estimate, it's thought that there could be up to two trillion galaxies in the
10:08 universe, with multiple hundreds of billions of stars in each.
10:12 And multiple trillions of orbiting planets, journeying around those hundreds of billions
10:16 of stars.
10:17 The scale of the cosmos is simply mind-blowing.
10:20 So much so that even the entirety of our planet can begin to feel quite small, once we consider
10:26 it alongside everything else.
10:27 Nevertheless, the stats for Earth are still quite impressive.
10:31 Our planet has a diameter of 7,926 miles.
10:35 Its equatorial circumference is 24,901 miles.
10:39 There's more than 57 million square miles of land on Earth, while the total surface
10:43 area is more than 196 million square miles.
10:47 There are upwards of 10,000 cities, and the global population is now comfortably beyond
10:52 eight billion people.
10:54 And yet, according to multiple theories, all of everything that's just been listed might
10:59 also exist inside a wider structure that's also, actually, smaller than an atom.
11:06 This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; are we living
11:10 on someone else's fingernail?
11:14 Do you need the big questions answered?
11:16 Are you constantly curious?
11:17 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
11:20 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
11:23 To start, let's consider the classic children's stories by Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who,
11:29 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
11:31 Both are set in the fictional town of Whoville, which is populated by the Who's.
11:35 What's interesting, though, is that in both stories, Whoville exists within a speck of
11:40 dust, and inside a snowflake in some later retellings.
11:44 The Who's entire reality is held within an entirely insignificant fleck of matter from
11:49 our higher plane.
11:51 On the one hand, it's a clever storytelling gimmick to set Whoville apart from all other
11:55 fictional worlds.
11:56 However, on the other, it's a possibility that's no longer thought to be quite so make-believe.
12:02 We're partway through the twenty-first century, and theoretical science has learned to incorporate
12:07 a steady stream of new ideas, theories and breakthroughs.
12:11 But arguably none has had more of an impact than the ever-growing field of quantum mechanics.
12:16 The science of the very small, of subatomic particles and physics, has threatened to rewrite
12:21 everything we thought we knew about how the world works.
12:24 In general, researchers have continually found that the conventional laws of physics fall
12:29 apart when we hit the quantum realm, leading to various suggestions as to the structure
12:34 of the atom, for example, being akin to the structure of the universe.
12:39 In many ways, both are unknowable.
12:42 More specifically, however, due to phenomena such as entanglement and superposition, we
12:47 know that there are infinite potential variations playing out all the time, forever, at the
12:52 quantum level.
12:53 This is especially of interest when it comes to the emergence of quantum computing, as
12:57 it's thought that the principles at play could one day lead us to incomparably powerful digital
13:02 technologies.
13:03 From another point of view, however, all modern research has really revealed is just how intricate
13:08 matter can be as we travel deeper and deeper inside of it.
13:12 Perhaps, after all, something like Whoville could be possible.
13:16 All it would take is a seismic shift in perspective.
13:19 The shift that's needed arguably happens as soon as you look into black hole cosmology.
13:24 According to this theory, our entire universe may have originated as a singularity, or a
13:29 point of infinite density, similar to what we'd expect to discover at the centre of
13:34 a black hole.
13:35 It then follows that, as this singularity expanded, it created the universe we know
13:40 today… and, indeed, is still creating, as we know that the universe is still expanding.
13:45 To a point, it's a model that follows on from the more general Big Bang Theory, which
13:49 also says that the universe started out as a singularity.
13:52 The big difference, however, is that black hole cosmology implies one, a higher plane
13:57 upon which the conditions for that singularity are made, and two, that there should be an
14:02 infinite number of other such singularities, multiplying exponentially as we move up through
14:07 those higher dimensions.
14:09 Whenever and wherever there's a black hole, there could, perhaps should, also be a universe.
14:14 Intriguingly, and as with at the quantum level, the laws of physics inside a black hole are
14:20 believed to be radically different from those outside of it.
14:23 For instance, we know that time can slow down, or even stop, inside a black hole.
14:27 Once you move beyond the event horizon, here then we find ourselves in a realm where the
14:32 unpredictable laws of quantum mechanics become dominant… to some degree, just as they already
14:37 are in the here and now.
14:39 The key takeaway, though, is that for black hole cosmologists, the observable universe
14:43 is the inside of a black hole.
14:46 Everything we've ever known exists as the eventual singularity, deep within a high enough,
14:51 massive enough, overriding physical structure.
14:54 Condense all of that down far enough, and perhaps you do eventually reach a Whoville-like
14:59 reality - one in which our entire universe is held within just a tiny speck, from the
15:04 point of view of a higher world and a higher being.
15:07 We might merely be a quantum fluctuation that occurred within a black hole, that occurred
15:11 within another, and another, and another black hole, and so on… making us and our reality
15:17 both tiny and bizarrely distorted.
15:20 It's not as though black hole cosmology is the only theory or concept that's leading
15:25 us to just such a conclusion, however.
15:27 Another is that of quantum, or spacetime, foam - first proposed by the renowned physicist
15:32 John Wheeler in the mid-1950s.
15:35 In short, Wheeler suggested that at the smallest scales of spacetime - and we're talking
15:40 infinitesimally tiny - there exists what can best be described as a "foam" - the true
15:45 base layer for physical reality.
15:48 Wheeler then posited that this foam is made up of constantly fluctuating energy particles,
15:54 forever popping in and out of existence.
15:56 In more recent times, though, some have pushed this further, asking us to suppose that, if
16:01 these fluctuations can create virtual particles, could they not also spawn entire universes?
16:07 Some scientists then theorised that within every particle produced in the foam, there
16:11 could lie another universe, with its own laws of physics.
16:15 Such universes could then be happening and unhappening all the time, birthing and extinguishing,
16:21 in and out of reality.
16:22 Again, this is a more than interesting idea when considered from our perspective, looking
16:27 down into the general murkiness of the quantum realm.
16:30 But zoom out from us, to a higher dimension within which all that we know is tiny, and
16:36 Wheeler's quantum foam asks us again to ponder our true place in reality.
16:40 Could it be that our universe is one that's also in flux?
16:44 One that's also popping in and out of existence?
16:47 And if so, how concerned should we be about it?
16:50 On the face of it, it would imply that our time is supremely short.
16:54 That we might suddenly find ourselves snuffed away into nothingness at any moment.
16:58 But then again, there's also reason not to worry at all.
17:01 As with the implications of black hole cosmology, any higher structure that's even close to
17:06 following Wheeler's quantum foam would likely work within entirely different physical parameters.
17:12 Just as we know that at the quantum level and inside black holes, time becomes distorted
17:16 and even disappears, we might expect something similar at any version of a higher dimension.
17:21 This means that, ultimately, it would matter not how long or short, weak or strong our
17:26 universe might be from a higher perspective.
17:29 Because from our perspective, it works pretty well.
17:32 And just as most of us give little thought to the subatomic particles that are constantly
17:36 churning all around us, any proposed higher entity would likely have very little reason
17:41 to care about us, either.
17:42 Which finally returns us to the question at the top of today's video…
17:46 Are we living on someone else's fingertip?
17:49 Through the lenses of black hole cosmology and quantum foam, it would appear that the
17:53 answer is… quite possibly.
17:55 For so long as we accept that we don't know everything (and we certainly do not know everything),
18:00 then theoretical science will continue to question even the most fundamental aspects
18:04 of our reality.
18:06 And in this instance, it just may be that if you zoom out far enough, if you climb the
18:11 dimensions high enough, if you reconfigure your understanding dramatically enough, then
18:16 our 93 billion light-years of universe and counting is also condensed into an infinitely
18:21 small piece of wholly missable matter, idly blown along by a distant, cosmic wind… and
18:27 perhaps settling somewhere on the palm of another entity's hand.
18:31 What do you think?
18:32 Is there anything we missed?
18:34 Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you
18:38 subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.