What the Bleep Do We Know!?

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What the Bleep Do We Know!?
Bleep lg.jpg
Promotional poster.
Directed by William Arntz
Betsy Chasse
Mark Vicente
Produced by William Arntz
Betsy Chasse
Mark Vicente
Written by William Arntz
Matthew Hoffman
Betsy Chasse
Mark Vicente
Cinematography David Bridges
Mark Vicente
Editing by Jonathan Shaw
Distributed by Roadside Attractions
Release dates
Running time 109 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $15,998,178


Bleep was conceived and its production funded by William Arntz, who co-directed the film along with Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente: all three were students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. A moderately low-budget independent production, it was promoted using viral marketing methods and opened in art-house theaters in the western United States, winning several independent film awards before being picked up by a major distributor and eventually grossing over $10 million.

The film has been criticized for both misrepresenting science and containing pseudoscience and has been described as quantum mysticism.


Filmed in Portland, Oregon, What the Bleep Do We Know presents a viewpoint of the physical universe and human life within it, with connections to neuroscience and quantum physics. Some ideas discussed in the film are:

  • "Empty space" is not empty.
  • Peptides manufactured in the brain can cause a bodily reaction to emotion.





The film includes over four hundred visual effects shots[2] —a very large shot count for an independent, privately financed film. Budget constraints required an international effort. Work was split between Toronto-based Mr. X Inc., Lost Boys Studios in Vancouver, and Atomic Visual Effects in Cape Town, South Africa.[3] The visual effects team, led by Evan Jacobs, worked closely with the filmmakers to create visual metaphors that would capture the essence of the film's technical subjects with attention to aesthetic detail.[3]

The wedding was filmed in St. Patrick's Catholic Church, which was built in 1888 and is in northwest Portland. St. Patrick's is not a Polish parish, as was shown in the movie; historically it has had a primarily Irish congregation. Some of the interviews were filmed on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Most notably, the grand staircase and reading room of Suzzallo Library, the quad, and the front of Denny Hall were used as interview locations.



According to the makers of the film, "Bleep" is an expurgation of "fuck". William Arntz has referred to the film as "WTFDWK" in a message to Bleep's street team.[5]






New Age community reaction[edit]

What the Bleep Do We Know!? has been described as "a kind of New Age answer to The Passion of the Christ and other films that adhere to traditional religious teachings."[1] It offers alternative spirituality views characteristic of New Age philosophy, including critiques of traditional religion's moral values.[10]

Academic reaction[edit]



Bernie Hobbs, a science writer with ABC Science Online, explains why the movie is wrong about quantum physics and reality; "The observer effect of quantum physics isn't about people or reality. It comes from the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and it's about the limitations of trying to measure the position and momentum of subatomic particles... this only applies to sub-atomic particles—a rock doesn't need you to bump into it to exist. It's there. The sub-atomic particles that make up the atoms that make up the rock are there too." Hobbs also discusses Hagelin's experiment with Transcendental Meditation and the Washington DC rate of violent crime, saying that "the number of murders actually went up." Hobbs also disputed the film's use of the ten percent myth.[15]

David Albert, a philosopher of physics who appears in the film, has accused the filmmakers of selectively editing his interview to make it appear that he endorses the film's thesis that quantum mechanics is linked with consciousness. He says he is "profoundly unsympathetic to attempts at linking quantum mechanics with consciousness."[16] These issues relate to the so-called Quantum mind-body problem.


Skeptic James Randi described the film as "a fantasy docudrama" and "[a] rampant example of abuse by charlatans and cults."[18] Eric Scerri in a review for Committee for Skeptical Inquiry dismisses it as "a hodgepodge of all kinds of crackpot nonsense," where "science [is] distorted and sensationalized."[19] A BBC reviewer described it as "a documentary aimed at the totally gullible."[20]

According to Margaret Wertheim, "History abounds with religious enthusiasts who have read spiritual portent into the arrangement of the planets, the vacuum of space, electromagnetic waves and the big bang. But no scientific discovery has proved so ripe for spiritual projection as the theories of quantum physics, replete with their quixotic qualities of uncertainty, simultaneity and parallelism." Werteim continues that the movie "abandons itself entirely to the ecstasies of quantum mysticism, finding in this aleatory description of nature the key to spiritual transformation. As one of the film’s characters gushes early in the proceedings, “The moment we acknowledge the quantum self, we say that somebody has become enlightened." A moment in which "the mathematical formalisms of quantum mechanics [...] are stripped of all empirical content and reduced to a set of syrupy nostrums".[21]


Book adaptation and sequel film[edit]



Featured individuals[edit]

The film features several interviewees for the documentary portion, including:


Further reading[edit]

See also[edit]


  2. ^ "Visual Effects / Animation". whatthebleep.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21. [dubious ]
  4. ^ a b c d e Ron Hogan (9/5/2005). "New Age: What the Bleep? Categories conflate, confound, connect". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2007-12-28.  [dead link]
  5. ^ Our power is in our ability to decide - Can you? Ideas Coaching
  13. ^ Randall, Lisa. Knocking on heaven's door : how physics and scientific thinking illuminate the universe and the modern world (1st ed. ed.). New York: Ecco. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-06-172372-8. 
  16. ^ a b Gorenfeld, John (2004-09-16). ""Bleep" of faith". Salon. Retrieved 2006-11-29. 
  18. ^ a b 2004 Pigasus awards James Randi Educational Foundation
  19. ^ Review by Eric Scerri of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
  20. ^ Review at BBC Movies
  21. ^ Margaret Wertheim, "Quantum Mysticism", LA Weekly, June 10, 2004. Accessed 2010-07-21.
  23. ^ Dr. Joe Dispenza from "What the Bleep do we Know" - Beyond the Ordinary Dot Net
  26. ^ Baccil, Pat (2004-08-11). "What the... Bleep.... Do We Know the Docu Drama". Press XTVWorld (press.xtvworld.com). Retrieved 2010-07-21. 
  28. ^ "2004 Remi Winners:". worldfest.org. WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. Retrieved 2010-07-21. 

External links[edit]