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106 - David Albert & Sean Carroll: Quantum Theory, Boltzmann Brains, & The Fine-Tuned Universe

106 - David Albert & Sean Carroll: Quantum Theory, Boltzmann Brains, & The Fine-Tuned Universe

Robinson's Podcast vor 3 Jahren

0:00

2:10:20

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of
Philosophy at Columbia University and Director of the
Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia. David
is a prior guest of the Robinson’s Podcast multiverse, having
appeared on episodes #23 (with Justin Clarke-Doane), #30, and #67
(with Tim Maudlin). Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural
Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty at the
Santa Fe Institute. He is also host of Sean Carroll’s Mindscape,
a terrific show (that influenced the birth of Robinson’s Podcast
) about science, society, philosophy, culture, arts, and ideas.
Sean also had a great conversation with David on Mindscape,
linked below. Both David and Sean are rare breeds—philosophers
who are physicists, and physicists who are philosophers—and in
this episode Robinson, David, and Sean speak about some of the
philosophical concerns at the foundations of physics. They first
discuss the Many-Worlds theory of quantum mechanics before
turning to the apparent fine-tuning of our universe for life and
the possibility of Boltzmann Brains, or complex observers in the
universe that arise spontaneously due to quantum fluctuations or
the random motion of matter.

Preorder David’s A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/4MUEJZN

Sean’s Website: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com

Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanmcarroll

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: https://a.co/d/dPKZ40X

David Albert on Sean Carroll’s Mindscape:
https://youtu.be/AglOFx6eySE

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:59 Introduction

08:11 Superposition and The Many-Worlds Theory of Quantum
Mechanics

22:34 Decoherence

27:20 Probability

41:32 Some Thought Experiments Concerning Probability

01:08:35 Parsimony

01:12:03 The Fine-Tuned Universe and Quantum Theory

01:14:52 Entropy

01:45:37 Intelligent Design

01:47:22 Boltzmann Brains Galore

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of
mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations
with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and
everyone in-between.