By Guest Author: Andra Owen, Administrative Assistant, Logos Research Associates

Do you have to exist to be able to doubt your existence? Interesting question. The answer seems obvious, unless, of course, you yourself don’t exist, in which case you aren’t even reading this! 😊

Maybe you have never doubted your existence before. In fact, the very idea seems illogical. Y scientists admit it may be more logical that we don’t really exist than the belief that the whole universe came about on its own by chance. Their conclusion all comes down to the science of probability. Before you get worried this will involve complicated math equations, let me give you a simple example.

Suppose you were to take a 1,000 piece puzzle and put it disassembled into a large box. Then you were to shake the box, for 10 seconds, an hour, or maybe even for an entire day. What is the likelihood of the puzzle becoming fully assembled when you stop and open the lid? Most people would not believe that to be even remotely possible. Having even half of the puzzle realigned would be almost as unlikely. Statistically speaking, it would be more likely for just a third, to be reassembled or just 50 pieces. Realistically, it’s most likely that just two pieces get connected correctly, or maybe none. How does this apply to your existence? Hold on a little longer.

Let’s say everyone on the planet has a box of 1,000 puzzle pieces and they each shake them for 5 minutes, 10 times each day. That’s a lot of self-assembly experiments. In fact, it’s 32 billion experiments per day. If you were to inspect each and every box each time the shaking is completed, what would you be more likely to discover? Puzzles that are 25% reassembled, or ones with two pieces correctly positioned? It’s pretty obvious. Puzzles that may have two pieces correct. That’s what probability tells you. The less probable events will occur less than the more probable events. Pretty straightforward.

Here’s where it gets weird. And if you like “weird,” you’ll definitely like this. There are so many factors in our universe that are precisely tuned, meaning if they were the slightest amount different than they are now, our universe (and the life forms that are in it) wouldn’t exist. That’s one of the biggest reasons more and more secular scientists are concluding there must be a designer. For those that just don’t want to go that route (for personal reasons) they have to rely on numerous unbelievably improbable events occurring. Here’s the rub. If extremely critical, extremely improbable events did occur, certainly those events which are not nearly as improbable would have occurred, too, and much, much more frequently.

Jump back to our puzzle analogy. If you were handed one of the billions of boxes that someone shook, before you even opened it, would you guess it was probably one that had a high number of pieces assembled or one with very few, if

any? You would guess it was one with very few pieces in the correct place. Why? Because that would occur so much more frequently than ones with numerous pieces aligned.

Here’s where the “weird” part comes into play.

Back to our universe. Which of the following would be more complex: (a) an entire real universe with stars, galaxies, planets, and life forms, including human beings, or (b) just a single free-floating brain that just THINKS it exists in a real universe with stars, galaxies, planets, and life forms, including human beings? Again, the answer should be obvious.

So, if the free-floating brain is much simpler, it would occur much more frequently than an entire universe. Here’s where we connect the dots. If a secular scientist is going to be consistent in their logic, they should believe that it is much more likely that none of us actually exist. We are all just an illusion within a single free-floating brain! Welcome to the “Boltzmann Brain!” This was a concept originated by Ludwig Boltzmann in 1896. Actually, it is more likely that it was invented by a part of a free-floating brain that thought its name was Ludwig Boltzmann! Taking this a step further, your memories would also be false. The brain might have only popped into existence last Thursday. Memories of life before that date are fabricated, having popped into existence with the brain.

So, is that weird enough for you? Hello? Hello? I think I lost some of you!

Alright, so what was the point of this interesting but weird thought experiment? I am not suggesting the Boltzmann Brain is real, or that you are some disembodied mind floating in a non-existent universe. You don’t live in some strange version of The Truman Show. And to be fair, very few secular scientists take this scenario seriously, even though it is a logical outcome of their own worldview. Nonetheless, there are a few things to take away from these thoughts.

The Boltzmann Brain is just another example of how secular thinking—a worldview apart from God—results in some crazy solutions. Why should we have a highly ordered universe of such incredible complexity if everything is a result of chance, undirected causes? When you start to study the insanely small probabilities of even the smallest aspects of the universe arising by chance, as strange as it might be, the Boltzmann Brain actually seems more believable!

We can be thankful, however, that the biblical worldview does not present us with a choice between an absurd reality and an astronomically, unbelievably small probability. Instead, it tells us of the God who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). He is also “not a God of confusion (disorder)” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

Take a moment this New Year to thank God that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and that nothing is more REAL than Jesus, the “Author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). As always, if you have any questions about this or any other issue, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

As always, if you have any questions about this or any other issue, please don’t hesitate to contact us!