Boltzmann brain

[Silvertusk]

I have two questions here -

1) I don't get it - what is a Boltzmann brain (in idiot guide phrases please - diagrams may help here )

and..

2) What on earth is WLC on about here:



http://www.reasonablefaith.org/further- ... oll-debate

Any help here would be much appreciated.

[SeekingSanctuary]

Okay, I'll try to explain it but I maybe wrong on half of this. Hana is way more qualified here, but:

The Boltzmann Brain is basically some "thing" that arises out of chaos, thanks to random chance. Depending on who is describing it, it either a self-aware thing or literally just a human brain floating there.

The idea behind it goes like this. "If it is possible, no matter how inevitable, then under infinite opportunities it becomes inevitable".

So, let's say you are shooting a gun and trying to hit a target, but you a drunk, blindfolded, and have literally no idea where the target is. What you do have is infinite ammo and infinite patience. Eventually you'll hit it.

Quantum Physics allows for some weird stuff. Things can just 'happen', I mean I think there are rules, but I don't know what they are or if physicists have them figured out yet, but there are a lot of stuff that can happen. There is a chance, an incredibly small chance, your computer could just teleport from where you're at to Antarctica for example.

Supposedly, building this brain counts as possible. If the universe has an infinite lifespan then one will appear eventually, most likely after heat death.

Probably a crap explanation, but basically "Eventually random chance will make a brain/something self-aware". Does this help at all? I haven't looked into the debate at all, so I don't know.

[1over137]

I have found a good explanation here: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmi ... 3NfcYGSyE4