Boltzmann’s brains

Here is a bit of material for philosophical reflection, from yesterday’s NYT.

The basic idea, as I understand it, is this. Scientists think that the universe’s level of disorder, as a rule, never decreases. What this means is that things decay, disperse, and lose any non-uniform distribution of qualities over time. You can’t unscramble an egg; you can’t unswirl the cream in your coffee; you can’t make the universe, as a whole, warm up, or even stay the same temp. This is the second law of thermodynamics: disorder (entropy) never decreases.

That’s a law for the universe as a whole.  It doesn’t preclude little isolated burps of increasing organization, so long as, over the long haul, there is a net loss in order. So the universe can tolerate isolated exceptions to the second law. But, since nature seems to always choose the simplest path, these exceptions should be kept to a minimum.

Here comes Boltzmann. Suppose the universe had two choices. One is to allow the great big exception to the second law known as the history of human evolution and civilization. The second is to allow the comparatively minor exception which would have you spontaneously come into existence, for a few seconds, with all the memories, perceptions, and expectations you are experiencing right now. Case number two is the smaller breach of entropy. So we should believe that that’s the truth: you think you are part of a great big exception to entropy, but you’re not. You’re something like a one-second-old brain in a vat.

What do you think?

Author: Huenemann

Curious about the ways humans use their minds and hearts to distract themselves from the meaninglessness of life. View all posts by Huenemann