You Are Not a Boltzmann Brain!

Gerhard from Pixabay

One of the primary pillars of our culture’s knowledge base is that the physical universe is real and exists apart from anyone or anything observing it. In this view, you and I are transient observers of our universe, and we have a finite amount of time in which to observe something that is essentially eternal.

Virtually every one of us believes in this fundamental idea so completely that it is rarely questioned. And yet, it begs the confounding question of how our consciousness, our human awareness, came to be.

Another way of asking this question of the origin of human awareness is, “Is it just a happy accident, a product of a particularly fortunate assembling of the elements of our physical world, that physics and chemistry should give rise to biology and consciousness?” --From Hoodwinked: Uncovering Our Fundamental Superstitions

Image by b0red from Pixabay

People search for explanations all the time, and perhaps the most important explanation there could be is the one about why we exist. The Boltzmann Brain hypothesis arises out of this question.

Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906) was a principal figure in the development of thermodynamics, a statistical basis for understanding the universe. Rather than consider the behavior of each individual atomic component of the universe (an impossible task), thermodynamics treats the world in macroscopic terms as huge collections of atoms.

The Boltzmann Brain idea says that given enough space filled with the manifestations of energy we call particles, and given enough time for quantum fluctuations in this energy space (interactions among particles) to randomly produce structures of matter, these fluctuations will eventually create a brain, such as yours, complete with all your memories. And this brain will produce a picture of reality (including your body and all that you perceive) that is indistinguishable from what we think of as ordinary reality.

Deconstructing the Boltzmann Brain theory

I think most of us would dismiss this idea as ridiculous, given our idea of what the world is and what a human being is. However, we can deconstruct the Boltzmann Brain idea and see what it’s made of.

As I noted in the previous paragraph, one of the components of the Boltzmann Brain hypothesis is that complex structures of matter are made from random interactions among atoms. Randomness is the inevitable byproduct of the assumption that consciousness, and deliberate intent, are not involved in creation. The dichotomy between intelligent design (presumably by a Creator) and creation by natural processes is largely assumed to be an either/or choice. However, these two ideas about creation are not mutually exclusive.

KattanaSox from Pixabay

Let’s illustrate how this might be the case. Consider our visual perception of objects around us. Light enters our eyes and is transformed by the rods and cones in our retinas into electrical impulses. These impulses travel along the optic nerve to the brain, and the brain makes a three-dimensional picture from these signals. It is universally assumed that this picture represents a fixed external reality with some degree of accuracy.

Then, let’s ask the question, “Can I prove or somehow demonstrate that the picture in my brain represents a reality that’s ‘out there’?” I can think of no way to do that. I suggest that, equipped as we are with only our five senses, all we have as human beings is that picture in our brains. That’s our reality, and we are the creators of that reality. Consciousness is all there is, and it’s all there has ever been. There are no random fluctuations in some energy space that’s separate from consciousness; everything that composes our reality exists within our consciousness. There is only our interpretation of the signals we receive from the Universe. Then, we mistake that interpretation, that picture, for a real, external physical world.

Stuck with predetermined fate, or free will?

Instead of being stuck with things “the way they are,” we are each free to optimize our interpretation (create our own reality) to our benefit and to the benefit of all. As a current example, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the Patagonia company, recently changed his description of the value of his company from a component of his personal wealth to an asset which can help fight climate change. It makes a difference how we describe the world!

To explore this idea further, I invite you to read my recent book, Hoodwinked: Uncovering Our Fundamental Superstitions