Quantum levitation. The term sounds like some kind of esoteric Jedi mind trick, but it’s not. It’s a real scientific phenomena of superconductivity, explained in the video below, which was levitating its way around the internet last year. This sorcery uses something called “quantum locking,” which means the superconductor used is locked in space because it’s frozen with liquid nitrogen, locking the magnetic field and causing it to look like it’s floating.
Pretty cool, huh? But it could be cooler—perhaps if it were a real-life Wipeout anti-gravity race track, just like the one these “researchers” from the “Japan Institute of Science and Technology” have built using the principles of quantum levitation. They’ve filled their track with spaced out superconductors and electrodes to finally show the world that playing video games does have its benefits.
But when things look too good to be true, you know it’s a rotten lie. Just look at the perfectly engineered CGI vapor trails—unconvincing. And so it goes. We emailed the gmail address associated with the YouTube account to find out more—asking for a scientific explanation—and heard nothing back. So it looks like this is an advert for the new Wipeout game, making it about as real as the benefits of snake oil.
But, it does show that viral videos are getting ever more cunning with their trickery, using pseudo-modern science to get the internet scratching its proverbial chin over their authenticity. Like the Siri mind-control hack (below) that had people convinced for a short while, but turned out to be fake and was probably a viral for the TV show Black Mirror.
It’s not that the world is populated by gullible idiots (well, not just that), but technology is getting to such an advanced level that we are becoming accustomed to suspending our disbelief until we know otherwise. And so in a way, we’re willing to believe anything.
Anyway, there go our dreams of hoverboards.