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Horizon: How Long is a Piece of String? (Full)

submitted by mintbbb

1 decade 3 years 5 months ago

BBC: Alan Davies attempts to answer the proverbial question: how long is a piece of string? But what appears to be a simple task soon turns into a mind-bending voyage of discovery where nothing is as it seems.

An encounter with leading mathematician Marcus du Sautoy reveals that Alan's short length of string may in fact be infinitely long. When Alan attempts to measure his string at the atomic scale, events take an even stranger turn. Not only do objects appear in many places at once, but reality itself seems to be an illusion.

Ultimately, Alan finds that measuring his piece of string could - in theory at least - create a black hole, bringing about the end of the world.

9 Comments

Interesting. It truly points out how naive we are in our day to day thinking. But then again that's good enough to get us through the day.

But when it comes to such seeming simple question of GOD or evolution we stick to what is easy to grasp, that is our common day to day reasoning.

Watching this made me think of evolution. If a particle can be here and there at the same time and if the cat can be dead and alive at the same time can the grand concept of evolution be true? If plants and nature use quantum physics daily how is that part of evolution?

Pure abstract science is cool It really makes one think.

Just watched it, Davis is probably hired for the candid " huh " look he mustered quite a bit. I liked it.

This is great... Saw it on TV two days ago while eating breakfast. *promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 12:40am PDT - promote requested by LarsaruS.

Praetor says...

My thought process:

"How long is a piece of string?"

This sounds like a great documentary!

"The more you measure it, the longer it gets."

Giggity?

I own a string factory and now my workers aren't showing up because they say they've met their quota! Alan Davies you have RUINED my life!

jubuttib says...

I can appreciate a good ponytail when I see one, but damn that guy has an annoying laugh.

Great documentary though, thumbs up!

If you wish to measure a piece of string, you must first invent the UNIVERSE!

This post has been removed from the Brain channel by channel owner jonny. Please review the FAQ to learn about appropriate channel assignments.

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