What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (2004)

I'm sorry, as much I'm open to the idea of letting people know to make the most of their minds, in order to affect our world. It shouldn't been told, via the misrepresentation of the laws of physics, especially when it comes to the principles of quantum mechanics. After all, the most essential point about quantum mechanics is bypassed in this movie. Quantum mechanics deals with small systems, and quantum effects (especially Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle).The movie exploits these effects by falsely implying that Broglie Wavelength also deals with bigger everyday objects, which it's highly debatable. Nevertheless, the movie doesn't explain precisely how the theory of quantum mechanics actually proves any of the mystical or religious teachings found in this film. I found, most of this new age-pseudo science documentary to be full of blatant lies, when it comes to justifies and proving that there is spiritual connection between quantum physics and consciousness. Some examples of that, are the way, the film edits the talking head sequences. The interweaving & quote out of context of legitimate scientists to match it up with those of preach spiritualism & mysticism is appalling. One of them, Physicist David Albert was so outrage, on the way, misrepresented his views that he went on the media circuit, after the movie was release, bad mouthing the film, for taking advance of his service. Another problem with this movie is how, nearly all the experiments that the filmmakers did for the film, were incepted. One such example is the sequences involving claims that individual cells are conscious from Candace Pert 1997's novel 'Molecules of Emotion'. While, I love her book and champion, Pert earlier work with drug, Peptide T, based on the research, I have gather; there is no evidence to support her claim of individual conscious cells. Yes, I know that the cells of the human body communicate with each other, hold internal state, and have certain "behaviors". Nevertheless, human cells function more like cogs in a complex hive-mind machine rather than independent creatures seeking out a life in an uncertain world. It's gestalt intelligence. As for other claims like the meditation experiment, call the 'Maharishi effect", put on by physicist, John Hagelin in Washington D.C. According to many books, written on the subject, by many scientists, they found little evidence that mantra meditation programs such as TM were effective in reducing psychological stress or improving well-being. While, it was true, the number of brutal murders in D.C had decreased, it is also documented, that the murder rate was higher that year that any year before or since. Much of this claim is hogwash. Then, there is the part of the movie that claims that when the first ships arrived in what is now North America by Christopher Columbus, the Native Americans couldn't find the words to deserve them. As many historians, had pointed out, Columbus was not the first person to discover the New World, nor was his ships, the first vessels, ever to sail near the island of Guanahani AKA 'the Bahamas'. In truth, many of the indigenous people on the islands were aware of the ocean, as they had fishing canoes and small boats to get around. So, to say, that they were so dumbfound by the appearance of ships is an understatement. Then, there is the works of researcher, Masura Emoto, who claims that consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water. In truth, exposing water in glasses to different words, pictures or music, and then freezing and examining the aesthetic properties of the resulting crystals, did little to change the particles in the sampling. Even though, his 'so-called experiments' did had experimental controls; they were often insufficient, and shows extreme examples of tampering, during the super-cooling phrase; when done by other scientists. In short, he's pretty much, a charlatan. He didn't even participate in a million dollar challenge, by James Randi in 2003, if he had been able to reproduce the experiment under test conditions, in front of the public. That's how much, a hoaxer, he is. And what about the claims that positive attitude keeps, you young and healthy? This message was delivered by two women, JZ Knight & Candance Pert who are clearly old & overweight. Look, I'm not saying, be, all depress and close-minded. I'm just saying, the film encourages a distrust for anything logical; which is dangerous. It's clear that this film does not present, any contradictory evidence, discuss any contrarian point of view, nor does it discuss the process of how certain conclusions were reached. As much as I would be all happy, love to travel back through time, levitate, or predict the future. It's alright to be skeptic. Much of things being taught here is indeed, mucho jumbo. After all, it was directed by three cult member from Ramtha's School of Enlightenment: William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente, whom leader, J.Z Knight believes, that she is reincarnation of Ramtha, a Lemurian warrior who fought the Atlanteans over 35,000 years ago. Nevertheless, the movie does have some good things about it, such as beautiful visual style and somewhat entertaining sub story of a deaf woman photographer named Amada (Marlee Matlin)'s frustrations with life in Portland, OR, with the 'Polish Wedding' being the hilarious highlight. While, Matlin's acting isn't the best, and some of the CGI is god-awful; especially the face-time on a flip phone and the mirror scene. I can't discourage anybody from watching it, but please watch it with a grain of salt. Please do some research before jumping to conclusions. Ultimately, this debate will come down to what is meant by consciousness. And if history is any indication, it will be a long time before people agree outside of specific operational definitions. In the meanwhile, read some books on the subject. Don't take everything in this movie for face-value.

"What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?" is a documentary from over 10 years ago that runs for almost 2 hours and tries to make an impact with its messages about religion, life and general well-being. However, it all feels very awkward from start to finish and I never felt the message that the movie was trying to deliver us. Well.. actually there is a lot of acting in this film, so you could only call it a documentary to some extent. For example, Oscar winner Marlee Matlin appears here, but the acting wasn't either on a level where I would say that I was impressed. But you cannot really blame the actors as the script was just too weak and also not full enough of memorable content for such a runtime. The ratings here on IMDb and on critics websites are accurate I would say. it is not a complete failure, but also not a good movie by any means. Overall, I give it a thumbs down.

It's a bunch of nonsense. It's been a while since I watched it however I'm pretty sure they don't actually get anything right. Watch this as fiction. If you do that, you might enjoy it to a degree. Suspend your disbelief for the amount of time it runs for then amuse yourself by looking up all the claims they muddled up or fabricated. There's some clever presentation at times and it's a shame it is wasted on people who want to convert you to their way of thinking, their way of looking at facts, their way of defining reality.I'm all for people believing what they want, don't get me wrong. However, this feels like propaganda. Always look at all the available explanations and then make your choices. Don't be drawn in by a flashy show.I was 16 when I watched this and was unfortunately doing Class A drugs heavily and regularly. I think this 'documentary' had a lot to do with pushing the psychosis that was building into a Messiah complex. Although I definitely got something out of it, what I got was my own. My later debunking of this dribble didn't change that so I just give this the dubious honour of being a catalyst to my own science-based ideas and the philosophical ideas which haven't been answered yet. Be careful with it.

If I had known about facepalming back in the day when this first came out, I would have bruised my forehead. This stuff isn't just bad it goes well beyond that. Then again this piece of trash featured Judy Zebra Knight (born Judith Darlene Hampton), an American mystic teacher known for claiming to be the channel of a spiritual entity named Ramtha...When Knight says she is channeling Ramtha she speaks mostly in English in what sounds like an accent from the Indian Raj,[22][23] sometimes in a simplistic way. The claimed entity "Ramtha" has expressed confusion about modern items (or even the ability to read English),[24] although he seems to have clear understanding of complex issues of modern physics, such as the quantum field or neurology, which appear frequently in his speeches.[25] During the channeling of Ramtha, JZ Knight behaves a bit differently and speaks in a deeper and stern voice. In his teachings "Ramtha" has made several controversial statements such as that Christianity is a "backward" religion, that Jesus' parables can be explained by means of photon waves and probability,[26] that "murder isn't really wrong or evil" (if one believes in reincarnation),[20] or (during the court case JZ Knight v Jeff Knight) Jeff Knight stated that Ramtha had declared that HIV is Nature's way of 'getting rid of' homosexuality.[26]