Do you believe in...Boltzmann Brains? (For the physics, philosophy etc. nerds)

[flexy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/science/15brain.html#addendums

I don't know how often I had to read up on this to understand, but I think I got it now, somewhat.

A Boltzmann Brain is a hypothetical self-aware entity that is supposed to spontaneously come to existence at one point in an universe, given enough time, from/due to quantum fluctuations.

(I learned to my surprise that recent models of the future of the universe now, pretty much "at the end" of the universe also hypothesize that at some point a "Boltzmann Brain" "pops up", this is, some time before another quantum fluctuation triggers a new Big Bang...and then a new Universe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future)

The idea behind the hypothetical Boltzmann Brain is that the "creation" of such a bare "brain that is floating around in the universe" (according to theoretical physics) is more likely than the existence of, say, ourselves, our brains which exist as a result of high order and evolution.

(The NYT article helped me to understand...eg. the example when you pull scrabble letters from a hat, there is a higher chance that you will pull a complete word from the hat than there is a chance you will pull a complete sentence.)

So, hypotheses go so far as to say there should be many more spontaneous "Boltzmann Brains" in existence than developed brains (like ours), simply arguing that the odds for a developed brain to come about from order/evolution are smaller than an aware entity to just spontaneously appear.

Somehow this contradicts my entire thinking since I silently assume our mind/brain is a natural result of evolution and increased order. Are the odds that the universe (given enough time, of course) would spontaneously "bring about" an aware "brain" really higher??

Do you also believe it's more likely that the universe should have created (or maybe indeed has created) spontaneous "brains" (aware entities) as those scientists say?

Of course the hypotheses go even further if one speculates that we're actually "Boltzmann Brains", randomly popped up aware entities with "memories" and existences which are actual illusions. (While of course an intriguing thought, and obviously very far out, I also have to say...it is ironically also sort-of irrelevant)

 

[Caravaggio]

...Of course the hypotheses go even further if one speculates that we're actually "Boltzmann Brains", randomly popped up aware entities with "memories" and existences which are actual illusions. (While of course an intriguing thought, and obviously very far out, I also have to say...it is ironically also sort-of irrelevant)

Thanks, that was most reassuring. My New Year resolution for 2016 is to worry much less about the hypothetically non-existent.

 

[SMOGZINN]

It is hard to say anything at all about the whole Boltzmann Brain idea because it relies on the intersection of two sciences that are both not well understood, quantum flux and consciousness.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

That looks like it's only accounting for initial creation of the brains - not longevity of the brain, or replication of the brain. I'd expect the vast majority of spontaneously created brains to die immediately, and the vast majority to not be capable of replication. Evolved brains on the other hand will both survive longer and replicate - pushing the odds back in favor of any single brain being evolved.