Popular physics: Boltzmann Brains and Sci-Fi

[sbrothy]

I assume you people are all so preoccupied with all the hard sciencemastering going on that you're missing out on the more basic [sic] research abundantly present under the "Popular Physics" header at arxiv.org. Particularly:

Futurama, Marvel's Supervillains and Boltzmann Brains.

I'm not entirely sure why this submission is categorized as physics. Joking aside though, I'd genuinely like to read this article as I'm a huge fan of comics and scifi lit. Unfortunately, apart from the synopsis, it's in Spanish and I wouldn't dare run an arxiv paper (ANY arxiv paper) through Google translate. I'm sure the result would trigger a massive cerebral hermorrhage in any babelfish.

(This post is of course meant as tounge-in-cheek. I sincerely mean I'd like to read it and it's not as if *I* made any submissions to arxiv so all due respect to it's author.)

 

[Klystron]

I enjoy a break from studying science by reading SF retrospectives such as
Physics of Star Trek
Physics of the Impossible
Physics of Superheroes

Including Medical science fiction provides a long list of entertaining fiction and non-fiction.

 

[sbrothy]

I enjoy a break from studying science by reading SF retrospectives such as
Physics of Star Trek
Physics of the Impossible
Physics of Superheroes
View attachment 295958View attachment 295968View attachment 295969

Including Medical science fiction provides a long list of entertaining fiction and non-fiction.

Ooo, new reading! Seriously, sometimes it feels as if I read the entire internet (ludicrous I know). I find myself refreshing old venues of information again and again to no avail

 

[sbrothy]

I enjoy a break from studying science by reading SF retrospectives such as
Physics of Star Trek
Physics of the Impossible
Physics of Superheroes
View attachment 295958View attachment 295968View attachment 295969

Including Medical science fiction provides a long list of entertaining fiction and non-fiction.

Quentynn Quen - Space Ranger does a good job of "explaining " why many startrek ideas are no good (ex. using force fields for vacuum insulation when an ordinary pressure-door would do, or doing matter-beaming ignoring creeping statistical errors and Heisenberg uncertainties).

 

[Klystron]

Quentynn Quen - Space Ranger does a good job of "explaining " why many startrek ideas are no good (ex. using force fields for vacuum insulation when an ordinary pressure-door would do, or doing matter-beaming ignoring creeping statistical errors and Heisenberg uncertainties).

Have not read that book. Given a continuum within Fantasy and SF, Isaac Asimov described (the physics of) Star Trek as belonging closer to Fantasy. Trekkies loved the minutia of shipboard life -- automatic doors, food processors, personal handheld communicators, etc. -- all of which were recent inventions when Gene Rodenberry invented the television series. For instance, I remember as a child walking through my first automatic door at a grocery store.

Of the three books in my post, I thought 'Impossible' the most entertaining, 'Superheroes' the funniest, and 'Star Trek', if memory serves, more nostalgic. I read 'Physics of Superheroes' in conjunction with the hilarious SF novel 'Soon I Will Be Invincible', possibly biasing my reaction.

 

[sbrothy]

Hah yeah. The automatik doors... I remember reading that the doors were "automated" by people manually sliding them back and fourth on set. height tech :)

 

[Melbourne Guy]

Unfortunately, apart from the synopsis, it's in Spanish and I wouldn't dare run an arxiv paper (ANY arxiv paper) through Google translate. I'm sure the result would trigger a massive cerebral hermorrhage in any babelfish.

Google Translate does a reasonable job, @sbrothy, but the content is not particularly enlightening. It is more a recap of TV and movie plots to present how Boltzmann brains have been used in the media. There is a brief introduction on the 'physics' that underpins Boltzmann brains, but it is superficial, the focus is on their plot use. I'm a sci-fi fan, so it was somewhat interesting, but the "he did this, then he did that" approach of describing the plot points is not particularly engaging.

Note that Google Translate had some trouble with the content, it could not translate unless I downloaded the PDF and then uploaded into the translate site:

 

[sbrothy]

Nah, I feared as much. That's why I wrote "tongue in cheek". They state that:

"This is a slightly extended version of a paper to be published in the proceedings of the Science Fiction Convention Portico, Universidad Tecnologica Nacional, Sede Regional Cordoba, Argentina"

I thought "COMICON" when I read that.