Quantum Short-Lived Attempt

After a few gloomy posts, I thought I would be able to share a good news today. Not so, unfortunately, given the results of Quantum Shorts out today. Our short film was not shortlisted (we know that it was a long-shot).

On November 16,2018, I wrote in our private FB group page, whether we should try out for Quantum Shorts. It is a sort of out-of -the-blue kind of suggestion, thinking of a group activity which is out of our normal routine. We had only a few weeks to think about it since the closing date is December 1, 2018. After some discussions, the group OK-ed it and thought of some plots to do. My student's version of how it went can be found here. I remembered at the same time I was listening to James Arthur- Anne Marie "Rewrite the Stars" (see below)



So the idea is partly inspired by the lyrics, "It Feels Impossible, It's Not Impossible, Is It Impossible, Say That It's Possible" - something that connects with the ideas of what questions are to be asked (measured) and the post-measurement states. Several themes crossed my mind: contextuality, free will theorem and Wigner's friend. The other source of inspiration was the film "Inception" which involves several levels of dreams (realities). We thought that we could apply the plot twist in the film to the one that we want to produce. Had asked my student to volunteer write a script based on some of the ideas thrown. Finally, we settled down to simply use one concept namely Wigner's Friend so that the film is simpler in ideas (easily recognisable). There are different plots being written and they evolved to the one being filmed. Much thanks to the group who was sporting enough to realise this. The final product "Rewriting Wigner's Friend" can be found below (in lower resolution for YouTube posting).



The Frauchiger-Renner paper mentioned in the film is a real paper and can be found here. The film actually has three levels of 'realities'. The first when they are acting with the coin flip (stopped abruptly before the coin flip result). The second is when they were supposedly finished acting and were discussing whether the shooting is OK. Finally, the third is the level of the viewer when the question of the scripwriter is answered. Had wanted it a bit more twisted and surprising but since this is our first attempt, we left it as that.

It is a pity that our film was not shortlisted for otherwise, we may get to be known by others. Particularly I was hoping that our 'creative work' gets to be noticed by the university. However with 176 entries from 40 countries, we knew it was a long shot (but nevertheless was still hoping). It's time to move on now.

Finally for Chinese readers of the blog, I wish you a Happy Chinese New Year.