Brain and Cosmos – Volume 1 Issue 1 June 2011 Table of Contents Article Title Page number 1. From the Publisher 2 ­David Alan Kaiser 2. Cosmologist’s search for self 2 ­Moninder Singh Modgil 3. Boltzmann brains ‐ I’d rather be one than see one 3 ­Richard Gott­III 4. Stairway to heaven 22 – why physicists want a Theory of Everything? ­Moninder Singh Modgil 5. Introduction to di Biase ‐ 31 ­R. Adam Crane 6. A Holoinformational Model of Consciousness 37 ­Francisco di Biase 1 From the Publisher Are we surrounded by infinite imaginary selves, a continuum of perspectives and commentaries on all that ever is? Mathematics does well with only two dimensions to represent most relationships of quantity, a real and an imaginary axis, but physics and biology require time and space, and psychology posits further dimensions hidden from senses but reliably measured. Diversity of understanding is the core of Brain and Cosmos, a forum to discuss concepts across disciplines such as dimensionality and the imaginary, mind and its relationship to matter. The first issue addresses a question of cosmology and intelligence: Is the brain more complex than the universe is infinite? From the Editor Can consciousness constrain cosmology? The anthropic principle, that our cosmos is structured to enable consciousness, has been reformulated into an intriguing thesis between consciousness and cosmology, one of necessity and inevitability, called the Boltzmann Brain Hypothesis1. Named after the pioneer of statistical physics and thermodynamics2, a Boltzmann brain is a conscious system produced by random fluctuations of elementary particles, freak observers as they are called. But I ask, can statistical fluctuation create anything? Why do we not observe spontaneous manifestations of Mercedes Benz in space then? 3,4 If fluctuation can create something of complexity, with enough time can a person be created? And am I this person? Another way to ask this question is “What am I?” The answer to this question is the goal of philosophy, and the Boltzmann brain contributes to this debate. Physicists believe consciousness is a matter­ generated phenomenon, one that may arise by random fluctuations of matter‐energy ‐‐but it not considered a closed issue. Physicist Richard Gott’s paper starts the task of addressing the properties associated with consciousness such as using a Turing test on a Boltzmann brain5. Astronomers have detected “amino acids,” the building blocks of life in deep space.6 Might a Boltzmann brain be far behind? And how will we recognize it when we see it? Could our galaxy be intelligent? Might it be a thinking and acting on its thoughts? Could any scale of complexity contain intelligence? These are the kinds of questions begun by reading this issue. 1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle 2 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain 3 motls.blogspot.com/2007/01/boltzmanns‐brain‐and‐low‐entropy.html 4 arxiv.org/find/all/1/all:+AND+boltzmann+brain/0/1/0/all/0/1 5 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test 6 arxiv.org/find/astro‐ph/1/abs:+AND+amino+acid/0/1/0/all/0/1 Accepted 30th January 2010 2 Publisher introduction of the first paper: When we consider the cosmos, matter differs clearly from mind in its perceptibility. Mind changes its relation to us covertly whereas matter tends to stay put in the world made by the senses. Mind requires tools to perceive its form and action, and with tools comes uncertainty. As a professor of physics at Princeton, Richard Gott claims not to be a Boltzmann brain but how does anyone know they are not a fluctuation of the cosmos, an auto‐relational swirl of willfulness willed into being by all that has passed before or after us in these halls? When it comes to the many combinations of mind to manifest on the matter we call Earth, Jesus comes to mind as a popular combination, the founder of the largest group to date on Earth, with an estimated two billion adherents alive, another two billion having passed, and cousins in nearly every way of life. So there are three questions that I ask about Jesus or Jesus consciousness after reading Gott’s paper: 1. Was Jesus a Boltzmann brain, or any similar prophet or spiritual leader, the entropic culmination of Creation, pre‐ordained in a physical as well as interpersonal sense? 2. If religious leaders are or are not Boltzmann Brains, was Abba, the one Jesus prayed to, his Dad a BB, or Yahweh, the Old Testament God? 3. Are any of us Boltzmann brains, sweet spots in the universe? BOLTZMANN BRAINS—I’D RATHER SEE ONE THAN BE ONE J. Richard Gott, III Princeton University ABSTRACT The standard cosmological, or ‘big bang’ model, is said to be dominated by dark energy. A commonly perceived problem with this theory is that in the future, space time becomes asymptotic1 to an exponentially2 expanding de Sitter space3, filled with Gibbons and Hawking thermal radiation4. Furthermore, from this thermal state, given 1 tendency of a system to behave as one approaches infinity 2 Expanding at a rate which ‐ say doubles per unit time. 3 The closed expanding universe with positive curvature. 4 Due to expansion of universe, light from points beyond a particular distance, is not able to reach an observer. These are the points which are moving at speed of light and they form the cosmological event horizon for that observer. Gibbons and Hawking thermal radiation is the energy radiating from the cosmological event horizon, analogous to that from the horizon of black holes. 3 infinite time there will be produced an infinite number of Boltzmann Brains (BBs)5 per finite co‐moving volume6 today. If BBs outnumber ordinary observers by an infinite factor, why am I not one? This Gibbons & Hawking thermal radiation is observer dependent, which is due to observer‐dependent event horizons7. Different observers moving relative to each other will see different photons, and different Boltzmann Brains. I will argue that the only particles that are real are the particles dredged out of the quantum vacuum state8 by particular real material detectors. (In much the same way, accelerated detectors dredge thermal Unruh radiation9 out of the Minkowski vacuum10 due to their observer‐dependent event horizons.). Thus, I may see a thermal Gibbons & Hawking Boltzmann Brain, but cannot be one. Observer‐independent Boltzmann Brains can be created by quantum tunneling11 events, but the rate at which ordinary observers are being added to the universe by tunneling events to inflating regions12 exceeds the rate for producing BBs by tunneling by an infinite factor. I also argue that Boltzmann Brains do not really pass the Turing test13 for intelligent observers. Thus, the standard flat‐lambda model14 is safe. INTRODUCTION The invasion of the Boltzmann Brains has become a perceived problem for the standard cosmological model, which is dominated by Dark Energy. Astronomers have discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating (Riess, et al. 1998, Perlmutter, et al 1999). This can be produced by a cosmological constant15 term as proposed originally by Albert Einstein. Today we would say that Einstein’s cosmological constant term represents a quantum vacuum state of constant energy density and constant negative pressure (a sort of 5 are complex human brain like objects, formed not biologically but through random statistical fluctuation in organization of matter particles. 6 Actual volume of a region in an expanding universe increases with time. A co‐moving volume, refers to relative volume of a region (as compared with say other regions). 7 A surface which light cannot cross due to either gravitation or expansion. 8 The state of space modified by presence of a quantum field – even when no particle of the field is present. 9 An accelerated particle detector, senses the presence of quantum fields, in form of particles, even though real particles may not be present. 10 Minkowski space time is the flat space time in which Einstein formulated his theory of special relativity. Minkowski vacuum is the quantum field theoretic state of its vacuum. 11 Jumping of a system across potential barriers, due to quantum mechanical effects. 12 Rapidly expanding region of space time. 13 This is a test to see if an artificially intelligent system can mimic the abilities of a human brain. 14 Currently accepted most viable cosmological model, in which the expanding universe is flat, and the cosmological constant provides the dark energy required for accelerated expansion. 15 This was a term he inserted to balance his equations, so that the universe was static and eternal, rather than expanding and with a finite past. After discovery of expansion of universe by Hubble, Einstein called it his worst professional mistake. But Cosmological constant provides a way for quantum fields to effect evolution of universe. 4 universal suction). Normally, we would think that a vacuum (empty space containing no particles and no photons) represents a state of zero energy density. But we have learned that empty space can have a non‐zero energy density. We now call this Dark Energy (or sometimes the Λ term following Einstein’s notation). If empty space has a non‐zero energy density, and it is to have no preferred standard of rest16, as Einstein wanted, it must have a negative pressure as well, equal in magnitude to its energy density. This implies that as the universe expands, the energy density of empty space will stay constant, as would its pressure, which is negative and equal to the energy density. As the universe expands, the PdV work17 done by the expansion on each volume element keeps the energy density constant as the volume expands. Since the negative pressure is uniform, it exerts no hydrodynamic forces.