Story perspectives

New Entropy Model Links Boltzmann Brains, Memory, Second Law

5/13/2026

Summary

Story summary

David Wolpert, Carlo Rovelli and Jordan Scharnhorst published study in Entropy on Boltzmann brain hypothesis.
The authors find the link between Second Law and reliable memory circular.
They propose an entropy conjecture, a time-symmetric Markov model, to expose the circularity.
The authors show Boltzmann brain, past and Second Law hypotheses share mathematical form, differing only by moment.
They argue physics cannot decide if memories reflect a past without external assumptions.

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Story summary

David Wolpert, Carlo Rovelli and Jordan Scharnhorst published study in Entropy on Boltzmann brain hypothesis.
The authors find the link between Second Law and reliable memory circular.
They propose an entropy conjecture, a time-symmetric Markov model, to expose the circularity.
The authors show Boltzmann brain, past and Second Law hypotheses share mathematical form, differing only by moment.
They argue physics cannot decide if memories reflect a past without external assumptions.