The best account of the multiverse predicts the universe is about to self-destruct

Perhaps the multiverse is able to explore an infinite number of different states, in which case it never forgets its initial conditions, and we cannot make predictions unless we know what those conditions are.

“It may be said that the world is so far from thermal equilibrium that we cannot imagine the improbability of such a state. But can we imagine, on the other side, how small a part of the whole universe this world is? Assuming the universe is great enough, the probability that such a small part of it as our world should be in its present state, is no longer small.”

If you take this type of theory seriously, it predicts that we are just some very special Boltzmann brains who have been deluded into thinking that we are observing a vast, homogeneous universe.

Whereas our present theories take the prior state of the universe as an input, a theory of initial conditions would have to give this state as an output.

Put simply, the theory predicts that the universe is on the verge of self-destruction.

If the universe, like a box of gas, can exist in only a finite number of available states, theory predicts that we are Boltzmann brains, which conflicts with observations, not to mention common sense.

The universe has an infinite number of states available, avoiding the Boltzmann brain problem, yet approaches a steady-state behavior, allowing for a straightforward statistical analysis.

Source: The best account of the multiverse predicts the universe is about to self-destruct

Originally published at Cogly.