This episode can be seen as a stand-alone summary of our analysis and rejection of the multiverse, or as a review of the main points of this season. It’s perfect for anyone interested in understanding why the multiverse fails but doesn’t have the stamina to listen to the whole season. You can find a written version of the episode here. We also just released the first episode of the complete Season 2 about Multiverse on our @PhysicsToGod YouTube channel.

Some points we discuss in this episode include: The Fine Tuning Argument, Three Premises of Multiverse, Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Eternal Inflation, String Theory, Naive Multiverse, Is Our Grand Universe Typical?, Infinities and Measures, The Boltzmann Brain Problem, The Three Layers of the Measure Problem, Is the Multiverse Science?

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

0:13 - What is the Multiverse?

3:07 - Fine Tuning

6:42 - Three Premises of Multiverse

10:01 - Infinite Multiverse Premise

15:45 - Varied Multiverse Premise

21:41 - Naive Multiverse

28:50 - Typical Universe Premise

33:55 - Is Our Grand Universe Typical?

35:36 - Infinities and Measures

38:28 - Ad Hoc Measures

40:01 - Intuitive Measures Don’t Work

45:46 - The Fine Tuned Measure Problem

48:00 - Three Layers of the Measure Problem

49:05 - Is the Multiverse Science?

53:55 - Conclusion

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This episode examines physicist Roger Penrose's extremely wild and imaginative theory for explaining the ridiculously improbable order of the Big Bang without invoking an intelligent cause. Penrose describes the tremendous problem of explaining the unlikely Big Bang as follows:

In order to produce a universe resembling the one in which we live, the Creator would have to aim for an absurdly tiny volume of the phase space of possible universes – about 1/10^10^123 of the entire volume...This is an extraordinary figure. One could not possibly even write the number down in full...

When Penrose speaks about the Creator, he means it metaphorically, as he doesn’t believe in God. This episode shows how Penrose’s theory - Conformal Cyclic Cosmology - attempts to explain the improbable order of the Big Bang without an intelligent Creator, and ultimately justifies why we think the argument for an intelligent cause still stands.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

1:54 - Introduction

3:10 - Conformal Cyclic Cosmology

7:14 - The Universe Loses Track of Time….

12:09 - Disappearance of Mass

17:49 - Hawking Radiation and Entropy Transcendence

22:23 - Evaluating Conformal Cyclic Cosmology

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Our universe’s initial state was incredibly unlikely, and if it were even slightly different, nothing would exist except for black holes. This episode discusses physicist Paul Steinhardt’s theory of Bouncing Cosmology which attempts to explain this unlikely beginning without requiring either an infinite varied multiverse or an intelligent cause. This theory is so wild and imaginative that we really had to struggle to come up with analogies to make it understandable to everyone. But we did. And these might just be our best analogies yet.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

1:34 - Introduction

4:35 - Cyclic Cosmology

7:40 - Entropy Density

12:44- Bouncing Cosmology

18:21 - Changing Dark Energy

21:40 - Evaluating Bouncing Cosmology

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Biologist Richard Dawkins, in his book, The Blind Watchmaker, wrote the following:

The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is, in principle, capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity. Even if the evidence did not favour it, it would still be the best theory available.

In this episode, we discuss physicist Lee Smolin’s attempt to extend natural selection from biology and apply it to the cosmos as a whole in order to explain fine tuning in physics. We start by discussing black holes and baby universes and end with what Smolin calls the meta-laws dilemma.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

1:35 - Alternative Theories

4:00 - Biological and Cosmological Natural Selection

7:51 - The Three Premises of Cosmological Natural Selection

16:05 - Not a Genuine Multiverse

18:34 - Problems With All Three Premises

24:12 - Smolin’s False Prediction

25:53 - The Fine Tuned Meta-Law

28:54 - Summary of Problems with Cosmological Natural Selection

30:39 - The Meta-law Dilemma

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Multiverse scientists deviate from the longstanding scientific method, grounded in predictions and observations, by positing infinitely many unobservable parallel universes to explain fine tuning. They have subtly switched to a mathematically formulated philosophical theory about an infinite multiverse to explain the fine tuning of our one ordered universe. This episode justifies why the multiverse is not science, and supports this assertion through the words of prominent scientists who attempt to defend the esteem of science from the multiverse’s corrosive effects.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

1:34 - Evaluating the Eternal Inflation/String Theory Multiverse

3:14 - Eternal Inflation Makes No Predictions Because of its Infinities

7:45 - String Theory Makes No Predictions

13:01 - All Multiverse Theories Fail to Make Predictions

15:10 - Redefining Science

19:25 - Redefining Science Won’t Help, But It Will Hurt

25:25 - Multiverse Scientists’ Disdain Towards Philosophy

27:07 - Why it Matters if Multiverse Corrupts Science

29:50 - Multiverse is Not Science but is Bad Philosophy

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The scientific method has been the key to the great success of science over the past 300 years, and it’s incredibly important to distinguish it from the philosophical method. You probably learned about the scientific method in 5th grade, and might be surprised we’re doing an episode on it. But times are changing. There’s now a serious controversy in the scientific community about whether it’s time to change the definition of science to accommodate the multiverse under the banner of science.

That’s a truly shocking development.

In this episode, we present a clear formulation of the scientific and philosophical methods so you can judge for yourself whether the multiverse is science or philosophy.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

1:36 - Introduction

3:27 - The Scientific Method

7:25 - Why Following the Scientific Method is so Important

8:00 - Rejecting False Theories

11:25 - Accepting True Theories

13:35 - The Philosophical Method

18:50 - Science-Based Philosophy

21:51 - Multiverse is Science-Based Philosophy

23:48 - Multiverse is Not a Good Philosophical Theory

25:53 - Value of Good Science-Based Philosophy

27:52 - Multiverse Scientists Claim Multiverse is Science

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If you thought multiverse scientists have difficulty explaining the fine tuning of the constants without God, you won’t believe the trouble they have explaining away the designed laws of nature. The mathematical multiverse solution to the design of the laws is so outlandish it makes a standard multiverse look tame by comparison. It’s really the ultimate multiverse theory - and it runs directly into the ultimate meta-measure problem.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

1:27 - Introduction

4:04 - The Mathematical Universe Hypothesis

8:42 - Evidence for the Mathematical Multiverse

10:33 - Are Simple Laws of Nature Typical?

14:02 - Another Designed Measure

14:00 - The Meta-Measure Problem

19:55 - The Difference between Science and Mathematics

24:33 - The Relationship between Science and Mathematics

27:10 - Why Science Needs God

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In an infinite multiverse, the need to calculate if our universe is typical leads directly to the devastating three-layered measure problem: ad hoc measures are bad ideas to begin with, all intuitive measures don’t work, and even if multiverse scientists were to find a contrived measure that did work, it would beg the question of what fine tuned and designed it?

While multiverse theory is plagued by many issues, the measure problem is unique. It conclusively demonstrates the multiverse’s failure to explain fine tuning and, for that matter, to explain anything at all. Once you understand the full scope of this problem, you’ll see why the multiverse fails as a good scientific theory, even in multiverse scientists’ framework.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

1:35 - From a Naive Multiverse to the Measure Problem

3:47 - The Three Layered Measure Problem

 - 4:45  1. Ad Hoc Measures

 - 7:50  2. Intuitive Measures Don’t Work 

 - 13:38  3. Fine Tuned Measures

18:57 - The Scope of the Measure Problem

19:25 - The Measure Problem Applies to Any Infinite Multiverse

20:33 - Problems with a Finite Multiverse

25:08 - The Significance of the Measure Problem

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In previous episodes, we discussed the multiverse's sole "prediction" that we are typical observers in a typical universe. However, this ignored the major problem that it doesn't seem possible for an infinite varied multiverse to use probabilities to make any prediction whatsoever because there are an infinite number of copies of every possible universe!

To get around this problem, multiverse scientists use something called measures to compute probabilities in an infinite multiverse and then determine what a typical universe looks like. They thereby attempt to rescue multiverse theory from the fatal flaws of a naive multiverse, but end up running directly into the measure problem we'll discuss next time.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

1:42 - From a Naive Multiverse to Measures

4:30 - The Problem of Infinities and Probabilities

6:51  -Measures

11:45 - True and False Predictions

14:27 - The Boltzmann Brain Measure

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The Boltzmann Brain problem – the multiverse's prediction that you are a randomly fluctuated brain with false memories – sounds like a ridiculous problem. In a sense, it is. But it's nevertheless a major challenge for the multiverse which claims we are typical observers. The Grand Universe problem – the sheer splendor and grandeur of our immense universe – likewise presents a significant question for the multiverse’s claim that our universe is typical. These problems cast serious doubt on the multiverse’s third premise – that we are typical observers in a typical universe with intelligent life.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening

2:08 - Summary of Last Two Episodes 

4:30 - Boltzmann Brain Problem

8:58 - Why Does It Matter If You’re a Boltzmann Brain?

12:46 - The Grand Universe Problem

17:30 - A Historical Irony

20:28 - The Need for Justification

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