2017/02/02 by Sean M. Carroll, Carroll, Sean M. · 3 voices · 26 citations
Neuroscience · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Artificial intelligence #Boltzmann constant #Boltzmann equation #Boltzmann machine #Computer science #Entropy (arrow of time) #Neural dynamics and brain function #Physics #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #Statistical physics #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-th #physics.hist-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1702.00850
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University) · 27 pages. Invited submission to a volume on Current Controversies in Philosophy of Science, eds. Shamik Dasgupta and Brad Weslake
arxiv created 2017/02/02 · openalex publication_date 2017/02/02 · arxiv updated 2017/02/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Some modern cosmological models predict the appearance of Boltzmann Brains: observers who randomly fluctuate out of a thermal bath rather than naturally evolving from a low-entropy Big Bang. A theory in which most observers are of the Boltzmann Brain type is generally thought to be unacceptable, although opinions differ. I argue that such theories are indeed unacceptable: the real problem is with fluctuations into observers who are locally identical to ordinary observers, and their existence cannot be swept under the rug by a choice of probability distributions over observers. The issue is not that the existence of such observers is ruled out by data, but that the theories that predict them are cognitively unstable: they cannot simultaneously be true and justifiably believed.