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What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole (2006)
Ramtha's School of Quantum Flapdoodle - coined by John Olmsted MA, Med.
A load of pseudo-scientific nonsense seemingly aimed at the gullible by members of a New Age cult/organisation fronted by J Z Knight, who according to John Olmstead (http://skepdic.com/ramtha.html) said the warrior/god Ramtha "...first appeared to her, while she was in business school having extraordinary experiences with UFOs.
She must have a great rapport with her spirit companion, since he shows up whenever she needs him to put on a performance. It is not clear why Ramtha would choose Knight, but it is very clear why Knight would choose Ramtha: fame and fortune, or simple delusion?" "...conducts sessions in which she pretends to go into a trance and speaks Hollywood's version of Elizabethan English in a guttural, husky voice. She has thousands of followers and has made millions of dollars performing as Ramtha at seminars ($1,000 a crack) and at her Ramtha School of Enlightenment, and from the sales of tapes, books, and accessories (Clark and Gallo 1993)." Another reviewer, Johann Hari, had this to say: The global understanding of science is being slowly contaminated.
If you want an example of this new pseudo-science, check out the dismal, brain-rotting movie What the Bleep Do We Know? which arrived in the UK fresh from sleeper-success in the States. Marlee Matlin plays a woman who is having a strange day; she meets a boy who is capable of bizarre physical tricks, and he asks her, 'How far down the rabbit-hole do you want to go?' The film claims to be a serious study of the philosophical implications of quantum physics, and Matlin's story is intercut with interviews from people who seem to be scientists. At first, they simply point out some of the extraordinary things that have emerged from the study of matter at a quantum (sub-molecular) level. But gradually the film begins to stir in unscientific (and absurd) extrapolations from quantum physics. The movie's 'scientists' begin to claim that discoveries in quantum physics provide proof for a whole range of fantastical New Age claims. They say you can walk on water if only 'you believe it with every fibre of your being'.
The real scientist Richard Dawkins summarises the film's assumptions: 'Quantum physics is deeply mysterious and incomprehensible. Eastern spirituality is deeply mysterious and incomprehensible. Therefore they must be saying the same thing.' Sadly, Dawkins' reaction is an exception; many newspapers have lauded the film as a 'brilliant scientific study'.
Okay, so it's a dumb movie, you might think, but what harm does it do? On its own, very little. But What the Bleep ... bears all the hallmarks of the new pseudo-sciences. One typical tactic is to take a gap in scientific evidence and fill it with faith-based claims. For example, geologists have discovered a gap in the fossil record which makes it hard to explain how evolution worked at certain periods. The neo-creationists seize on this and claim it as 'proof' that evolution didn't happen at all. (Incredibly, over 40 per cent of Americans believe them). The New Agers do the same with the gaps in quantum physics. (From The Independent a UK quality newspaper).