Can the universe afford inflation? · HackerPapers discussions

Can the universe afford inflation? — mentioned by raattgift

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 08:30:46 GMT

> arguments in favor of the Boltzmann Brain are written before the discovery of the Hubble's law (1929) I'm pretty sure the Boltzmann brain paradox is 20th century, likely originating with John D. Barrow and Frank Tipler -- they discuss it in e.g. chapters 6 and 10 of their 1986 book on the anthropic cosmological principle, although afaict the actual words "Boltzmann['s] brain[s]" first popped up in the early 2000s. Dyson, Kleban and Susskind (DKS 2002, https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0208013) is firmly after the widespread acceptance of the lines of evidence pretty much compelling an…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Can the universe afford inflation? — mentioned by raattgift

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 07:54:47 GMT

Boltzmann brains in the sense preferred by some authors (notably https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0405270 in section C., which is the sense I'll deal with in this reply) are set in thermal equilibrium with chaotic fluctuations away from the equilibrium points that persist only briefly before equilibriating again. Think of a gas of neutral atoms that has fallen into equilibrium warm temperature over a long, long, long period of time. Being warm the atoms bump into each other, chaotically. Very occasionally the bumps form what to humans would appear to be clusters or even higher patterns. Even more…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.