BBC on Everett - Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives

In 1957, the young and brilliant physicist Hugh Everett III published a paper which used some heavy duty mathematics to predict the existence of parallel universes. Although the concept of parallel universes seeped into popular culture, it was considered too way-out for mainstream physicists; and for many years, it remained in the scientific wilderness. Now, 50 years on, Hugh Everett’s son has travelled across America for a BBC Four documentary to find out more about his father’s theory, and why it has now been accepted by many physicists as the work of a scientific genius. Mark Oliver Everett’s own career path couldn’t have been more different from that of his father. Mark Everett is the creative force behind the successful American cult rock band Eels.

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I think that, while Everett‘s Relative State formulation of quantum mechanics makes a lot of sense, its popular interpretation as “Many Worlds” (MWI) should be taken only as a simple pictorial device useful for a first understanding of the theory. Today’s physicists are still arguing over what Everett exactly meant but many think that, within the limits of current knowledge (which, of course, can and certainly will be improved), Everett’s is the more logical and elegant interpretation.

The BBC story Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives blends scientific interest and human interest. It was broadcast on BBC Four on Monday, 26 November, 2007, at 2100 GMT. Those who missed it can download the .torrent given in this page (746M, requires registration). I am downloading it now, at slow but reasonable speed.

NEW - I have finished downloading it. About 1 hour of video at 672 x 384 pixels, 1800 kbits/s, almost good enough for full screen. The direct link to the .torrent is here. It is a very good and professional documentary. The MWI is well explained at a very introductory level until the double slit experiment and the Schroedinger cat, without going into more advanced topics like entanglement, EPR etc. The background music (Mark’s of course) is very good. The merged and mixed stories of Hugh and Mark are very interesting.

Posted by G.P. on 12/02 at 03:51 PM
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