The universe simulates itself into existence, and other nonsense from modern pseudo-physics

Physicists seem to be on a roll these days. Unfortunately, I’m not talking about a string of new discoveries about the fundamental nature of reality, but of a panoply of speculative notions ranging from the plausible but empirically untestable (and therefore non-scientific), such as Sean Carroll’s marketing of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, to sheer nonsense on stilts, like the idea that is the subject of this essay.

I find myself in a very strange situation here. You see, I began my career as a scientist, before moving to philosophy of science. In both phases of my professional life, I have always been interested in what Karl Popper called the demarcation problem — the difference between science and pseudoscience. And I’ve done my part to debunk and fight against the latter.

What I would have never expected was to gradually getting involved in disputes about what I regard as pseudo-philosophy, and even less so about pseudoscience coming from within the scientific establishment itself! Oh well. Here we go. Again.

(Incidentally, I’m not alone in this thankless task. You should check, for instance, the writings of my friend Jim Baggott, or those or my colleagues Sabine Hossenfelder and Peter Woit.)