Boltzmann Brains

It has been argued that our best scientific theories predict that, given a long enough period of time, random aggregations of particles will produce objects identical to human brains. These are known as Boltzmann brains. This video considers some of the philosophical challenges posed by such theories.

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0:00 - Introduction
4:00 - What’s wrong with B-theories?
7:59 - Skepticism
16:24 - Cognitive instability
26:18 - Diachronic disorder
30:50 - Synchronric disorder
40:36 - In defense of B-theories

-- Carroll, S. (2017). “Why Boltzmann brains are bad.” https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.00850
-- Dogramci, S. (2019). “Does my total evidence support that I’m a Boltzmann brain?” Philosophical Studies 177: 3717–3723.
-- Kotzen, M. (2020). “What follows from the possibility of Boltzmann brains?” In Current Controversies in Philosophy of Science, eds. Shamik Dasgupta, Ravit Dotan, and Brad Weslake: 21-34. New York: Routledge.
-- Saad, B. (forthcoming). “Lessons from the void: What Boltzmann brains teach.” Analytic Philosophy.