Are You a Boltzmann Brain?
April 27, 2017
1,487,515
37,859
3,181
2.76%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Pbs Space Time Episodes Around April 27, 2017
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
11:44Now PlayingAre You a Boltzmann Brain?
Segments
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelViewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here
Was an incredible drop in entropy responsible for the Big Bang? If that’s the case, this would lead us to conclude that a great many other things are possible, including the likelihood that you are a Boltzmann Brain. Try The Great Courses Plus at
You can further support us on Patreon at
Get your own Space Time tshirt at
Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime
Facebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetime
Email us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] com
Comment on Reddit
Help translate our videos!
Previous Episode:
The Oh My God Particle
The second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that everything moves towards a state of greater entropy, but it is low entropy that enables galaxies, stars, planets and human beings. The lowest entropy state that we’re aware of in our universe was right before the Big Bang. The entirety of our own universe was condensed to a microscopic size. What caused this extreme low entropy? If it was caused by a random fluctuation in particles that implies that a great many other things are possible due to the random fluctuations of particles. One of the strangest of those possibilities is that of the Boltzmann Brain. If the Big Bang was caused by random entropic fluctuations then it is much more likely you are a Boltzmann Brain than that you are a human being.
Written and Hosted by Matt O’Dowd
Produced by Rusty Ward
Graphics by Kurt Ross
Made by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com)
The Great Courses Plus is currently available to watch through a web browser to almost anyone in the world and optimized for the US market. The Great Courses Plus is currently working to both optimize the product globally and accept credit card payments globally.
Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters:
Big Bang
Shane Robinson
David Nicklas
Samuel Dean Jacintho
Quasar
Tambe Barsbay
Luna IT Solutions
Coolascats
Avan & Kyan Griggs
Max Levine
Hypernova
Science Via Markets
Chuck Zegar
Craig Peterson
Jordan Young
Ratfeast
John Hofmann
Thanks to our Patreon Gamma Ray Burst Supporters:
Justin Lloyd
Conor Dillon
Jared Moore
Michal-Peanut Karmi
Bernardo Higuera
Erik Stein
Daniel Lyons
Jade Bilkey
Kevin Warne
JJ Bagnell
J Rejc
Dylan Merida
Amy Jie
Anthony Caridi
Avi Goldfinger
John Pettit
Shannan Catalano
Florian Stinglmayr
Yubo Du
Benoit Pagé-Guitard
Ronny Polonia
Nathan Leniz
Jessica Fraley
Kirk Mathews
Loro Lukic
Carl P. Corliss
Brandon labonte
David Crane
Greg Weiss
Eric Jackson
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.