It's Monday, April 9th, 2018, and you're listening to Inquiring Minds.

I'm Andrei Viscontas.

And I'm Keshore Hari.

Each week, we bring you a new, in-depth exploration of the space where science, politics, and society collide.

We endeavor to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it all matters.

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No theory in the history of science has been more misused and abused by cranks and charlatans

and misunderstood by people struggling in good faith with difficult ideas than quantum mechanics.

That's a quote from our good friend and former guest on this podcast, Sean Carroll, as he talks about one of the

most successful scientific theories and probably least understood scientific theories in quantum

mechanics. Now, do you have a handle on what quantum mechanics is? Well, no, but I do have a pet peeve

about how quantum mechanics is used.

Which is like, you know, taking one thing we don't understand to explain something else we don't understand.

Like, obviously, you know, consciousness is hard and quantum mechanics is hard.

Therefore, quantum mechanics must explain consciousness.

...