Schrodinger's Coin - Quantum Multiverse Theory in Bioshock Infinite - Extra Credits

up right up friendos don't be shy we've got the answers to all of your scientific video game quandaries right here see does thinking about the plot of BioShock Infinite leave you with a hangover worse than the effects of a possession Vigor does the idea of quantum Multiverse Theory the game posits actually fitting into our real world understanding of reality make your noodle bake like a fireman on the 4th of July we'll never fear because Dr Aaron McDonald astrophysicist and sci-fi consultant to the stars get it is back to help us break down the dimensional Duality with regards to real life physics and to try to prevent our minds from melting while we do it um keyword try [Music] now before we begin it's important to note that since the many amazing uses of Science in this game's story are also the foundations for some of its most mind-blowing twists if you haven't played the game yet and don't want the plot points ruined for you we ask would

you kindly come back later after you finish the game because this Lighthouse is full to the brim with spoilers for BioShock Infinite still here great cause we're blasting off to Colombia BioShock Infinite puts you in the shoes a book or do it one of this Channel's favorite last names who is taken to the floating city of Colombia in 1912 by mysterious benefactors in search of a young woman named Elizabeth and upon finding her you discover she has the ability to open tears portals into alternate realities and while jumping between these alternate universes you uncover that the latest twins who took you to Colombia on their tiny rowboat are in fact the same person but from different universes for Simplicity we'll be using their names to differentiate the universes Rosalind and Robert your character Booker comes from the Robert universe and had a daughter named Anna Dewitt but the universe we are playing in is actually the Rosalind universe and Comstock our villain and founder of Colombia kidnapped Anna from the Robert

Universe adopting her as his own daughter and renaming her Elizabeth but the kicker was when Comstock took Elizabeth through the portal to the Rosalind Universe her finger was severed and remained behind thus giving her the power to jump realities not only that it's also important to note that these two main universes fractured from a single point in Booker's past revealing that he and Comstock are also the same person okay pause for a second we promised you science and not just a story recap that really makes me want to go back and replay this game let's break down what we've got so far and see if there's any similarity in real world physics the use of quantum physics in BioShock works because there's still a lot of behavior at the quantum level we don't fully understand in real life and while some science fiction will just throw around the word Quantum to make it sound more sciency Bioshock actually does a great job of using it with respect to Observation paradoxes and collapsing possibilities the main application of quantum physics that's being used in this story is called the

quantum Multiverse Theory and it relates to a common and possibly deadly kitty-related quandary Schrodinger's cat which for the uninitiated is a thought experiment where we imagine a cat in a closed box with a radioactive Source poison and a geiger counter when the geiger counter detects a radiation particle a process that is fairly random it breaks the bottle of poison and kills the cat oh correct Zoe but only half the time maybe after some time of leaving this box alone there's no way to tell if the poison bottle has broke and therefore the cat can be considered both alive and dead and this is a rather admittedly dark way of interpreting quantum physics because when you get down to the quantum or the very very small level of reality the location and behavior of particles isn't definite they exist as probabilities superimposed in a space and a particle like an electron around an atom technically exists in multiple places simultaneously until you collapse the probability curve by observing it

like by opening the box but Schrodinger's cat always kind of rubbed me the wrong way so another example I like to use is the USB stick without looking at it right before you plug in a USB it's in both the correct and incorrect positions simultaneously once you've tried to plug it in however you've observed it and collapsed the probability curve to one or the other and the quantum Multiverse idea is is that if I observe the USB stick to be correct when I plug it in there also exists Another Universe where it was incorrect and every binary decision we make like this each have alternate realities that Compound on each other effectively resulting in an Infinite combination of realities and that is why BioShock Infinite story really sings like a songbird because it uses these Concepts as we currently understand them as the basis of its narrative the primary characters are all intertwined with each other as a result of a self-contained decision and the universes it created the two primary universes in the game the Robert and the Rosalind universes were created when Booker made the decision to be baptized

or not after the Wounded Knee massacre in one Universe he chose to be baptized and became Comstock a childless prophet and founder of Colombia and in the other he was able to have a daughter Anna and remained Booker DeWitt then when Rosalind Lutes the physicist from the players Universe was working on manipulating Quantum atoms for her City floating ludesfield she discovered her alternate self in Another Universe Robert Lutes observing and manipulating the same Quantum atoms this study LED them to inventing a device that could tear through the walls of realities now here a good way to visualize all of these universes is to think of them each as bubbles if you have a tub full of bubbles most of those bubbles will share a wall while also still being bubbles themselves the lutesis device creates tears in these shared walls which essentially allows people to travel between bubbles while Elizabeth is able to travel between universes because her finger remaining in her original Universe essentially created a perma-suspension between her home Robert universe and the Rosalind universe but

this idea that universes Spawn from decisions also implies universes can be created and destroyed at will and our current understanding of physics laws unfortunately discredit this as an option since matter and energy can't just come from nothing because if a new universe is spawned every time we make a decision where does all that stuff come from so this is where the science in the game and the science of real life sadly must enter separate lighthouses but I call tibs on the one playing Tears for Fears we hope you've enjoyed this 101 explanation of the quantum Multiverse Theory through the underpinnings of the story of BioShock Infinite while it's a fun thought experiment that is rooted in real quantum physics there are still fundamental physics laws that currently prevent us from seeing it as a reality but on the other hand if you happen to be viewing this video from inside an alternate let's say underwater Dimension where this sort of thing is possible we'd love to hear your Quantum thoughts in the comments below see you next time everybody

whoa legendary Patron remix I'm Etsy on Turk Gunner Clovis Alicia Bramble Kyle Murgatroyd Casey muscha o'riel's one and Dominic valenciana thank you so much [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]