Soap bubble brains
My understanding of: fundamental physics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, philosophy and most fields is extremely limited. However, I sometimes read about a thought experiment that ressembles a thought I’ve previously had, and that makes me feel very smart. I once had a thought that disturbed me for a little while as a teenager: what if everything had just appeared this very second, our observable universe and all our memories. It’s then possible there’s no way to distinguish between the time before (a fiction of our memories), and the time from now on (where things are really happening). Maybe this played a little into forming my nihilistic mind, but the thought that circled around my mind for perhaps a few months did not evolve and did not really connect with anything else going on in my life.
But then last week, I stumbled upon the Boltzmann brain thought experiment. Here’s my (probably at least partially erroneous) understanding of it. Boltzmann (or one of his assistants), came up with two possible reasons explaining why entropy is statistical, and therefore periodic, while we’ve only ever observed entropy as increasing. The first is that the universe somehow started in a low entropy state. The second, more fun explanation, is that the universe exists most of the time in a state of maximum entropy (heat death), and that once in a while, bubbles of low entropy appear, in this case our entire observable universe, or Boltzmann universe. Another physicist, Arthur Eddington, pointed out that it’s much more likely for small bubbles (i.e. tiny isolated observers, or brains) to appear than big ones (i.e. our entire observable universe). From there, depending on what kind of physical rules our universe follows, a Boltzmann brain can appear either from quantum fluctuations, where an equal amount of matter and antimatter are created to form it, or from the nucleation of particles, which would occur in a Sitter space, whatever that means. The first idea -that is, the quantum fluctuation Boltzmann brain theory- is the one I like most, because it also predicts that the most likely observers to appear would only exist long enough for a single observation or thought. I stop before trying to understand some modern physicists’ arguments that seek to show what nonsense these theories are (though they seem sort of unsure of how to do that), and the implications of multiverse theory and cosmic inflation. Instead, I’ll share an incoherent thought that doesn’t even exist yet, since I’ve just appeared at this moment and will disappear that very same moment (this holds only when I think about it -at what point in time during that thought, I’m not sure).
Ever been high and thought something, but aren’t sure if it’s a smart thought enabled by the substance or if it’s just making you think you’ve had an aha moment. What if our understanding of the world is just like that? What if what makes us conscious is our belief that we live in a coherent world, where all our (false) memories somehow follow a rational model, but our momentaneous thought, the single one we have before going back to nothingness is based on nonsense quantum randomness.
Or I’m completely wrong about this, but since I’m short on time -I’m about to disappear into nothingness, remember?- I don’t have the time or motivation to think of a counter-argument or to look further into it.
I want to make clear that I’m aware of my lack of proper understanding of physics and philosophy, and know my thought process is riddled in logical mistakes. Hopefully I haven’t inadvertently convinced you I suffer from schizophrenia. I’m also aware that the brain in a vat thought experiment is probably a more relevant road to follow when talking about consciousness, but I find it completely boring. The image of a brain popping out of nowhere just long enough to feel the embarrassment of accidentally farting loudly in a public place, then immediately disappearing back into the void is much funnier than a matrix scenario.
Disclaimer: I was not under any psychotropic substances while writing this, though I am in the middle of SSRI withdrawal.