I'm currently rewatching Fringe, which is a great show. I believe it's also the first SciFi show my sister is actually willing to watch.
Now, the science of it is obviously bonkers, but it still bothers me when they use terms completely wrong. Like when they cite the Pauli Exclusion Principle as to why two objects from different universes cannot exist in the same place. The principle is about the quantum state of fermions, like an electron, not whole macroscopic objects.
>"... Like when they cite the Pauli Exclusion Principle as to why two objects from different universes cannot exist in the same place. The principle is about the quantum state of fermions, like an electron, not whole macroscopic objects...."
It might prevent degenerate matter from two different universes from occupying the same space, but I suppose that would depend on whatever theory was underlining the existence of those parallel universes.
@Pat Sure, but we're not teleporting neutron stars here.
My post was too short to explain exactly what Nina Sharp was saying in that episode, but what she is saying does not relate to the exclusion principle. She's talking about two versions of the same object.
Assuming everything else is possible in the scenario, the principle would block the particles from entering our universe in the first place as the spot is already taken. The effect would not gradually happen after the transport.
I figured that that Fringe episode was probably about the "multiverse", multiple temporal dimensions created by branching alternative possibilities. [E.g., Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (2022)]
After I tooted out that comment I realized that the point of your OP was probably more about stupid, inaccurate science facts in movies generally, than it was about any specific fact.
I'm about to drop another scifi #FTW about a film that is loaded with those silly factual inaccuracies.
I appreciate when a film actually makes an effort to get the science facts right.
@Pat it's an early episode of season 2 I think, but yes, it's about skipping between multiverses.
The scene would have worked just fine without mentioning the principle at all. I guess the writers just looked up something that sounded relevant. The principle is not straightforward to understand if you don't know quantum mechanics, and is clearer when formulated mathematically.
@Pat For all its other flaws at least Big Bang Theory did this bit well. Even as someone in a similar field to Sheldon, the stuff they talked about made sense. Sure, they made up a bunch of stuff too. Even the equations on the white boards were at least relevant, if not exactly describing the problems they were discussing. But that's really a level of detail I don't expect. Most shows use middle/high school algebra style math and pretend it's advanced physics. Fringe has done it several times 😁
@veronica No part of this show works scientifically. Yet, it’s such a perfect show, despite it. It’s so good at reading the human heart, if not the geographic world.
@drneevil obviously it's all completely made up, but it still throws me off when they misquote actual scientific principles. I bet they do it a lot more in other fields in that show, so it probably helps a lot not being a biologist 😁
@veronica
Walter Bishop is a wizard, and it just so happens that all his magical terminology sounds exactly like lots of scientific terminology. That's how the science in that show works. :P
@redthewizard John Noble is a joy to watch as Walter Bishop. And I've spotted him citing plenty of actual pseudoscience details I have encountered, which is always amusing.
But in this case, it was Nina Sharp who made the comment.
@veronica I already have the Lost DVDs! And Breaking Bad. I want to rewatch Battlestar Galactica and some Star Trek series. It really annoyed me when everything Trek got put on Paramount+.
@Jennifer_Pinkley Yes! Same. I have a lot of DVDs from back when that was the main thing. I've been replacing some of them wirh Blurays. Like all of Stargate. I also found TNG on sale.
@Jennifer_Pinkley Oh, absolutely. Not only is it much higher resolution, but the encoding is better so the image quality itself is better. So is the sound. The standards are still behind streaming, but they use low compression on Blurays, so the quality is usually good.
I do have a Bluray player for my TV, but changing discs and flipping through all the warnings and intro nonsense on discs is tedious, so I copy the episodes to my media storage first, and stream them internally to my TV.
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