Related papers: Why Boltzmann Brains Are Bad
It is known that the biological activity of the brain involves radiation of electric waves. These waves result from ionic currents and charges traveling among the brain's neurons. But it is obvious that these ions and charges are carried by…
We consider two straightforward rules that govern the stochastic choice in a single quantum mechanical event. They are shown to lead to absurd results if an objective state reduction is allowed to compete with an observer state reduction.…
A brief historical account of modern cosmology shows that the standard big bang (BB) model, believed by so many, does not have the strong observational foundations that are frequently claimed for it. The theory of the Quasi-Steady State…
The results from Planck2015, when combined with earlier observations from WMAP, ACT, SPT and other experiments, were the first observations to disfavor the "classic" inflationary paradigm. To satisfy the observational constraints,…
While the warming trends of the Earth's mean temperature are evident at climatological scales, the local temperature at shorter timescales are highly fluctuating. In this letter we show that the probabilities of such fluctuations are…
According to our current conception of physics, any valid physical theory is supposed to describe the objective evolution of a unique external world. However, this condition is challenged by quantum theory, which suggests that physical…
In this brief note I argue that putting conscious observers at the center of the considerations clarifies and strengthens the many-worlds interpretation. The basic assumption, which seems extremely plausible based on our current…
Large-angle fluctuations in the cosmic X-ray background are investigated by a new formalism with a simple model of the X-ray sources. Our method is formulated from the Boltzmann equation and a simple extension of the work by Lahav et al. to…
I discuss the Boltzmann-Penrose question of why the initial conditions for cosmology have low entropy. The modern version of Boltzmann's answer to this question, due to Dyson, Kleban and Susskind, seems to imply that the typical intelligent…
Physical theories must stem from observation. The possibility that perceived events are simulated, not real, raises a crucial dilemma about the credibility of known physics, known as the simulation hypothesis. To analyze this hypothesis in…
General relationship between mean Boltzmann entropy and Gibbs entropy is established. It is found that their difference is equal to fluctuation entropy, which is a Gibbs-like entropy of macroscopic quantities. The ratio of the fluctuation…
We make the observation that a brane universe accelerates through its bulk spacetime, and so may be interpreted as an Unruh observer. The bulk vacuum is perceived to be a thermal bath that heats matter fields on the brane. It is shown that,…
We investigate cosmological consequences arising from the interaction between a homogeneous and isotropic brane-universe and the bulk. A Friedmann equation is derived which incorporates both the brane and bulk matter contributions, which…
It will be shown, how the Boltzmannian ideas on statistical physics can be naturally applied to nonequilibrium thermodynamics. A similar approach for treating nonequilibrium phenomena has been successfully used by Einstein and Smoluchowski…
The idea that the brain is a probabilistic (Bayesian) inference machine, continuously trying to figure out the hidden causes of its inputs, has become very influential in cognitive (neuro)science over recent decades. Here I present a…
Bayesian probability theory is used to analyze the oft-made assumption that humans are typical observers in the universe. Some theoretical calculations make the {\it selection fallacy} that we are randomly chosen from a class of objects by…
We attempt to dissolve the measurement problem using an anthropic principle which allows us to invoke rational observers. We argue that the key feature of such observers is that they are rational (we need not care whether they are…
The idea of possible time or space variations of the `fundamental' constants of nature, although not new, is only now beginning to be actively considered by large numbers of researchers in the particle physics, cosmology and astrophysics…
It is hypothesised, following Conrad et al. (1988) (http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/papers/urbino.html) that quantum physics is not the ultimate theory of nature, but merely a theoretical account of the phenomena manifested in nature…
A certain vector-tensor theory is revisited. Our attention is focused on cosmology. Against previous suggestions based on preliminary studies, it is shown that, if the energy density of the vector field is large enough to play the role of…