In the cerebral cortex, which, in fact, is responsible for higher nervous activity - personality, behavior, thinking and consciousness - there are, according to various estimates, 10 to 25 billion neurons. Nerve impulses are transmitted chemically through special sections of membranes - synapses. Each neuron has more than a thousand synaptic connections (and there are also those with which this number reaches 10,000) with other neurons, and thus the neurons are connected to each other in a huge branched network.
How the real human brain is arranged
Boltzmann brain - a hypothetical object that arises as a result of fluctuations in any system, and is able to realize its existence. It was named after Ludwig Boltzmann, who made a great contribution to the development of statistical physics.
In a de Sitter vacuum such an object can appear, but the probability of this event is very small. According to the results of modeling, such an event can occur approximately once in 10 ^ 10 ^ 50 years. But if the time of existence of the universe is infinite, then the number of such events will also be infinitely large.
Boltzmann Brain
Hence the paradox ("Boltzmann brain paradox / problem" in modern cosmology) - a randomly chosen object in the universe that has intelligence is much more likely to be the result of fluctuations than the product of evolution (to which people refer also). In fact, this is not the case: in the case of an infinite universe, the numbers of Boltzmann's brains and products of evolution will be identically equal to infinity; However, the density of the probability of the formation of an evolution product is higher than that of a Boltzmann brain, so it is most likely to encounter the product of evolution, rather than the Boltzmann brain.
At present, Dyson, Kleban and Susskind (BCS) have revived this hypothesis already at a higher level of theory and experimental knowledge. The starting point of reasoning is the observational fact that the dominant form of matter in the modern universe is, apparently, a vacuum with a positive energy density. In this case, we live in de Sitter's world. And this means that our world is a thermodynamic system with temperature and entropy determined by the Bekenstein-Hawking formulas. If the current vacuum energy density is e = 10 ^ {-47} GeV ^ {4}, then the temperature is T = 10 ^ {-29} K. Despite the insignificantly low temperature in such a system, people, planets and galaxies can arise from the vacuum due to thermal fluctuations, bypassing the usual stage of the evolution of the Great Bang. One of the most challenging conclusions of the DCS is the assumption that the early inflationary universe is a fluctuation (Poincare recurrence) of the future, in a state of thermal death, of the universe. Even more surprising is the conclusion that the early inflationary universe is a less likely configuration than, for example, a universe with a background radiation temperature of not 3 K, but 10 K, incompatible with life.
Normal people are structures that have arisen due to the nonequilibrium processes due to the "Big Bang" in the past. The time of the first appearance of the Boltzmann brain: t = exp (ER), where E = 100 kg, and R = 1 m. This time equals (up to a negligible pre-factor) the inverse Boltzmann exponent exp (-ER) = exp (-10 ^ { 45}).
A space with a positive density of vacuum energy is the de Sitter space. Such a space is finite, i.е. has a finite radius, which is rigidly connected with this energy. The radius of such a space, the inverse of the Hubble constant for the space. de Sitter, does not change with time. At this distance, the observer sees himself surrounded on all sides by a black hole - the horizon of events near de Sitter. Everything that is beyond the horizon can not influence the de Sitter world. The system is isolated. In addition, in this completely empty space, the observer senses (fixes) the presence of temperature.
Despite the exponential expansion, the de Sitter avenue is a finite isolated system. And for such systems the Poincaré return theorem holds: an isolated system quasi-periodically returns arbitrarily close to any given point in the phase space.
The world of de Sitter is eternal in the future, therefore, no matter how small its temperature and the probability of occurrence of a Boltzmann brain is insignificant, the number of Boltzmann brains will ultimately exceed the number of those normal beings who have ever lived. The total number of normal people in a fixed concomitant volume is limited. On the other hand, the total cumulative number of Boltzmann's brains (or freaks, chimeras) will grow exponentially with time.
The Entropy Principle
An empty (vacuum-only) de Sitter world has entropy and temperature in accordance with the Hawking-Beckenstein formulas. Even in such a world, due to thermodynamic fluctuations, the brain of Professor Boltzmann can arise directly from nothing (from the vacuum).
In this connection, an interesting question arises: why are not we freaks?
To prevent the appearance of the Boltzmann brain, Don Page suggested that our world (with an insignificant vacuum density) still unstable, decaying for 20 billion years.
"The logic of quantum field theory and inflationary cosmology forces me to recognize that in the infinitely distant future in the vacuum, more and more copies of myself, or rather my current consciousness, will be born," says Andrew Linde, a professor of physics at Stanford University. "But if this is so, why should I believe that I'm current - this is the original, and not one of the copies?" Moreover, since the number of copies is infinite, such a probability is greater than the probability of being the original source. Of course, this paradox can be circumvented. For example, we can assume that the dark energy causing the exponential expansion of the universe will disintegrate before there are at least some chances for the birth of just one copy of me. In that case, I have the right to consider myself an original, but I must predict that the universe is doomed to disappear. "
However, according to Andrei Linde, there is another way out of this situation. Inflationary cosmology insists on the constant birth of new universes with different physical laws. It is the most complex network of an infinite number of worlds, the fractal structure of ever newer universes. Then there is the possibility that in each of the new worlds many new originals are born. If it can be shown that their number greatly exceeds the number of copies produced from vacuum, then it becomes clear why we are real people, and not Boltzmann's brains.
"In fact, we are talking about how to compare the probabilities of various processes in the ever-renewing fractal universe. This is a very real and very serious problem of cosmology. In principle, such a comparison can be done in a variety of ways. However, if we want the results to meet our intuitive faith in our own reality, very many comparison algorithms will have to be dropped. So it turns out that the seemingly purely fantastic idea of the Boltzmann brain performs a very serious role in cosmology.
And we are talking about even more. Now we begin quite rationally to discuss problems that we had never even thought of before. For example, what is consciousness and can it develop from a vacuum? Is it necessary to assume that for this the vacuum must necessarily create high-molecular biostructures, or can it do with electronic computers? Moreover, it can be shown that it is most beneficial for a vacuum to give birth not to large people, but to computers the size of a small black hole. So maybe we are such computers and only think that we are people? We believe that this is not so, and we are trying to build a picture of the world in which such an opportunity would have been ruled out. But in order to understand this seriously, you need not be afraid to get into questions that border on physics, psychology, and philosophy. Previously, such discussions would be considered unworthy of scientists, but now they are gradually becoming a part of science. "
Sean Carroll and Kimberly Boddy of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (USA) assure us that the death of the universe is fully secured by solidly known physics, namely, the Higgs boson.
The Higgs field, of which the boson is a quantum, must be metastable, that is, be able to spontaneously transition to a lower energy state. This will create a bubble of space with its own physical laws, and this bubble will expand at the speed of light, destroying everything in its path, including eventually the known universe. By the way, this will happen, most likely, not earlier than in 20-30 billion years, so that nothing threatens you personally. Well, this optimistic scenario is realized only if the Higgs field is really metastable, and not stable.
How to know for sure? Mr. Carroll and Boddy combine the mass of the Higgs boson (about 125 GeV) obtained in recent experiments with the latest estimates of the mass of the t quark (the true quark).
As a result, they say, according to known physical laws, the metastable Higgs boson is much more likely to be stable.
Great, of course! Boltzmann's reasoning will not have time to fill the universe, for before this spontaneous emergence of a new universe inside the old will kill everything around in the manner of the eggs of a parasitic wasp that destroys the host insect with the growth of the organism. True, there is a nuance: if the idea of a multiverse in the version of an infinite number of worlds is correct, then there, by virtue of the infinity of options, there will clearly be many cases when Boltzmann's minds will arise, and in large numbers. Well, the main thing is that we do not have it, do we?
Unfortunately, even this we do not yet know. The fact is that if the expansion of the universe continues to accelerate, it turns out that even the rapidly expanding bubble of the new space-time will not have time to kill the entire old universe. it will expand even faster, and the bubble will never take up the bulk of its space.
Real and Boltzmann brains
The main difference between real and Boltzmann brains is that the first must see in the perceived world a reflection of the ordered laws that could generate them, while the latter can observe a completely chaotic world. In other words, the Boltzmann brains must see more miracles. Hence the suitability of the idea of BM for the explanation of miracles.
Obviously, the problem of MB is in many respects similar to the problem of computer simulations. In other words, we can call BM spontaneously arising simulations. Obviously, if a certain type of BM could self-sustain or self-replicate, it would create a dominant class among all MBs. (Just as eternal cosmological inflation creates an infinitely large space due to the ability of the initial fluctuation to swell very quickly with a certain combination of initial conditions.) This already smacks of self-generation of the spirit!
The strangeness of the manifestations of UFOs also suggests some fluctuations. In general, the general property of anomalous phenomena is their rarity, unpredictability and uniqueness. This is very similar to the fluctuations. However, classical UFOs demonstrate certain elements of regularities. Classical quantum fluctuations are microscale. However, if our whole world is a fluctuation, then the fluctuations in the space where it a priori arose are comparable in scale with the whole world.
Resolution
It is not difficult to imagine something in between the B-brain and the 6-mind. That is a kind of fluctuation, in which it is more convenient for thoughts later to arise. Rough example: in the beginning there is a typewriter, and then words are generated from its letters. Eventually, the usual observable universe arose: first, fluctuation is a big explosion, and then statements from letters-atoms (which are moved by smaller fluctuations-the thermal motion of molecules and chemical reactions). However, another set of letters (Qualia?) Is possible, corresponding directly to the states of the brains of observers. Now it remains to investigate whether such a Boltzmann typewriter will create more observers than the natural universe and than pure Boltzmann brains. If yes, then we are in it. The emergence of a powerful silicon computer based on a nanotech from a vacuum is more likely than the emergence of an entire biological entity, since the mass of the computer will be immeasurably smaller (it can be several micrograms). The probability of spontaneous materialization falls very quickly in proportion to the mass of the computer that has arisen, so that the most "technically perfect" computer is most likely. Such a computer can be a quantum computer, that is, it can be arranged as a sequence of transitions between electronic levels in a certain complex molecule. In addition, such a computer can exist more permanently and sustainably in a vacuum than the biomedical system. Further, if such a computer produces a simplified i-simulation, then it is even simpler and more likely.
One possible way to get rid of the Boltzmann brains is to assume that our universe will soon self-destruct. "Is Our Universe Likely to Decay within 20 Billion Years?" Don N. Page
The fresh measurements of the mass of the true quark, are able to clarify the question of the rate of expansion of the new space-time, so that, perhaps, we will soon find out whether the Boltzmann brains can make up the majority of reasonable in our universe.
References for Text and Images:
- https://www.scribd.com/document/231389568/Boltzmann-Brain
- https://www.thoughtco.com/what-are-boltzmann-brains-2699421
- https://evolutionnews.org/2017/07/is-sean-carroll-a-boltzmann-brain/
- http://onlinephilosophyclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=13267
- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/science/15brain.html
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