eli5 What’s Boltzmann Paradox?
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The first bit comes from advanced physics – we know that sometimes ‘random things’ happen in the universe. For example, there a measurable, non-zero possibility that a dinosaur wearing a toupee and singing New York, NY will appear on my front lawn when I hit ‘comment’ and then vomit up the spider from Home Alone. Is this *likely?* Of course it isn’t. But it’s *possible* with some insanely, infinitesimally small – but calculable – likelihood.
So by extension – let’s assume it’s also possible that a goopy flesh thing, let’s call it a ‘brain’, containing all of my thoughts, memories, and experiences just *appears* floating in deep space somewhere. Like the dinosaur this is *possible*, just really really really really unlikely, but again – measurably possible.
Now, let’s consider the universe as it really is. All the eons and eons of things that occurred in exactly the way they did, forming the cosmos in exactly the way they are, with every decision and moment and interaction going the way it did that leads up to this very moment of my writing this explanation for you. How likely is it that *that* happened exactly that way? Pretty fucking unlikely, considering all the possible other options.
What if it’s 1,000x *more likely* that a memory-flesh-brain appears in space than a universe lead to this moment? What if that’s what *you are*. A flesh-brain floating in space for a fraction of a second pre-programmed with all the memories of your existence.
Absurd, yeah it is. 100,000,000x more like than the universe actually existing as we perceive it? Maybe.
So then what?
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