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00:00We know that sometimes, things happen in our everyday lives that just can't be explained.
00:05The most widely cited example is probably déjà vu – that eerie feeling you get whenever
00:10it feels as though you've been somewhere or seen something before.
00:14It's a common phenomenon, but every so often there are examples of something much more
00:19than déjà vu – of bizarre theories and experiences that ultimately cause those who
00:24encounter them to question their very existence.
00:28This is Unveiled, and today we're taking a closer look at four things that could prove
00:33the world isn't real.
00:35Do you need the big questions answered?
00:37Are you constantly curious?
00:39Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
00:42And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:45We'll start with probably the most famous thought experiment about the nature of reality,
00:50Schrodinger's Cat.
00:51It's a tale as old as time in terms of quantum science, but it crops up so often because
00:56it's come to be a vital demonstration of exactly how weird and unknown the world is.
01:01It was devised by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger in 1935.
01:05Legend says the first time it was ever voiced was during a probably pretty complicated conversation
01:11between Schrodinger and one Albert Einstein.
01:14So how does it work?
01:15Imagine you have a cat inside a sealed box.
01:18Along with the cat, there's a vial of poison and a radioactive atom.
01:22Schrodinger's box is set up in such a way that the atom can decay, releasing the poison
01:27and killing the cat… or it can remain stable, leaving the cat safe, well, and still alive.
01:32The fate of the cat is tied to the behaviour of the atom… but here's the twist.
01:36Until we open the box and observe the cat, quantum mechanics says that that fate is uncertain.
01:42In the quantum world, things can exist in multiple states simultaneously, thanks to
01:46superposition.
01:47So, before we open the box, Schrodinger's cat is both alive and dead at the same time…
01:53so the theory goes.
01:55In general, it challenges our common-sense understanding of reality… because in every
02:00day, something is either one thing or another, not both.
02:03Here, though, what's important is that the atom's decay is a truly random process,
02:08and we can't predict exactly when it will happen.
02:11Therefore, again, until we open the box and check, the atom exists in a superposition
02:15of both decayed and undecayed states.
02:18This then extends to the entire system, i.e. everything inside the closed box… including
02:23the cat, whose life literally depends on it.
02:26Ultimately, though, this isn't about cats.
02:28It's about the fundamental nature of particles at the quantum level… and it's an idea
02:32that has since been developed, not least by the winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics
02:37in 2022.
02:38Alain Aspay, John F. Klauser, and Anton Zeilinger.
02:43In separate studies, and over a period of around fifty years, they all found proof that
02:47Schrodinger was right… and that on the quantum level, particles are inevitably linked.
02:52One possible interpretation is that it could imply that actually nothing is real until
02:57it's observed… which, from an individual point of view, grants every single one of
03:01us with a weirdly massive amount of power.
03:04But next, let's take a closer look at something that seemingly isn't an imagined construct
03:09first and foremost… our physical bodies.
03:12Because according to one tech story, at least, we may only need to look inside ourselves
03:18to find evidence of the unrealness of everything.
03:21In August 2017, some bizarre headlines made the rounds, with reports that scientists had
03:27managed to hack into a computer using DNA.
03:30And actually, that claim wasn't hyperbole.
03:33It was true.
03:34The study in question was conducted by a team at the University of Washington in America.
03:38It set out to investigate computer security, privacy, and DNA sequencing… and ultimately
03:45found, reportedly for the first time, that DNA could be used to compromise computing
03:50systems.
03:51Now, the truth here is perhaps a little less concerning than you might immediately imagine.
03:56Through a series of tests, the team were essentially able to show that the patterns found in DNA
04:01could be converted into malicious code, which then could be transferred into digital systems…
04:07especially as DNA research involves many computational elements.
04:11However, at this stage, there's no real suggestion that a person could ever simply
04:15use their own biology to hack into anyone else's private stuff.
04:19So, you needn't worry about that.
04:21The study is more to show that various DNA sequencing techniques and softwares are vulnerable…
04:27a potentially big problem given that DNA data is a. widely shared and b. has become exponentially
04:34cheaper to obtain in recent years.
04:36But regardless of whether or not DNA hacks will trigger some kind of cyber-apocalypse,
04:40why is it relevant to the question of the world not being real?
04:43Well, one takeaway from the study is more simply that it's a direct representation
04:48of exactly how programmed we are.
04:51Everything about us really can be diluted down into a digital code… suggesting that,
04:56with the right know-how, we really could all be reduced into a digital file.
05:01It's not just science fiction anymore, it's an uncomfortable fact.
05:05And so, while on some level the world is still real, it's not in any way that we
05:09currently grasp it.
05:11While Schrodinger's cat hints that realness only happens when we observe it, the concept
05:15of DNA as a digital virus shows that even the most fundamental building blocks of us
05:21can be rearranged into something that's totally different.
05:24Our physical selves can easily be converted.
05:27You thought you were only your body, but actually, you're potentially a non-physical entity
05:32as well… naturally.
05:34And without any far-future modifications necessary.
05:37And that's a little disturbing.
05:40Next though, and not every apparent instance of a code of life revealing itself is quite
05:44so unsettling, social media is awash with snapshots of seeming glitches in the matrix.
05:50This might be a photograph of strangers sitting next to each other on the subway, but all
05:55are wearing the same clothes.
05:57Or it could be a video of two people walking alongside each other in perfect sync, despite
06:02being wholly unaware that their actions are being copied.
06:05As bizarre as these moments are, however, they can almost always be written off as plain
06:09coincidence.
06:10With clothing, for example, it's perhaps not so surprising that any two or more people
06:15would choose to wear a couple of the same items.
06:17However, sometimes the coincidences do seem to go further, and American history serves
06:23up two of the best.
06:25First, the birth and death of the writer Mark Twain.
06:28He was born in November 1835.
06:31He died in April 1910.
06:33However, what's interesting about those dates is that both double up as rare moments in
06:37time when the elusive Halley's Comet appeared in the skies of Earth.
06:42Twain was born when the comet could still be seen, two weeks after its closest approach.
06:46And he died just one day after its next closest approach, seventy-four years later.
06:52The author is even said to have predicted his own passing, as he's quoted for telling,
06:57The Almighty has said, no doubt.
06:59Now here are these two unaccountable freaks.
07:02They came in together.
07:03They must go out together.
07:05For many, the scale of this coincidence is enough to hugely question the authenticity
07:09of what's real.
07:10Finally, though, and this time, to the deaths of two American presidents, Thomas Jefferson
07:16and John Adams.
07:17The pair died on the same day in 1826, July 4th, aka the 50th anniversary of American
07:24independence.
07:26You might think that that in itself would be coincidence enough, but it's said that
07:30both passings were even more closely linked.
07:33Throughout their lives, Jefferson and Adams were friends, and then rivals, and then friends
07:37again.
07:38They were founding fathers of the USA, before political clashes drove them apart and into
07:43opposite parties.
07:45Years later, they reconciled and remained close until their deaths.
07:49It's said that during his last words, Adams even remarked upon how Jefferson had survived
07:54him.
07:55Unbeknownst to Adams, Jefferson had actually died a couple of hours beforehand.
08:00For some, it's as though their lives were entwined.
08:03In modern times, we might even say that they were… entangled.
08:07So, could this have been a real-world instance of something like Schrodinger's cat in
08:11action, extrapolated all the way up to the top of US politics?
08:15Could Mark Twain's coming and going represent more than just a peculiarity?
08:20Perhaps the contemporary realization that DNA is hackable offers some kind of explanation
08:25for when things happen in life that are otherwise unexplainable.
08:29Clearly, none of this serves to prove the world isn't real, but it does leave cause
08:34to wonder… can you ever really trust reality?
08:37What do you think?
08:38Is there anything we missed?
08:40Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you
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