I found myself in a room. It was a workshop of some sorts. The walls were littered with complex drawings of machines I could only guess the function of. The floor was made of large old wooden boards, and from the wooden roof there hung countless lamps in all different shapes and forms. In the middle of the room there was a hexagonal desk. It was so full of papers and devices of immense complexity that the surface was almost entirely covered. By the desk there stood a boy. He looked to be around 8. He wore a simple yellow and black oversized sweater. Although his physical appearance was nothing unordinary for an 8 year old, his eyes looked rather too inquisitive and old.
Hi, I said almost without thinking. The boy smiled broadly, and answered with a nod.
Welcome back said the boy. What will your question be? I found myself confused by this. I started probing my mind. Where was I? Why had I come here?
I looked around again. There were no doors nor windows to the room, and although I counted multiple times, I was sure the floor had 6 corners, but there were only 3 flat walls connecting it to the roof. I took some seconds trying to battle Euclid before I gave up and went back to inquiring my mind.
I have no knowledge of who I am, where I am, or even what I am supposed to ask the boy. I felt a shiver of angst and instinctively tried to grasp anything certain. I still had my knowledge of the world. I still had my reason. All in all not so bad. This made me calm a little. I looked up at the boy again. I am afraid I might be unwell, I cannot seem to remember anything before this moment. May you show me the way out so I can get some help?
The boy looked at me with a blank expression. I cannot show you the way out unless you tell me where you want to go. What was this idiotic boy going on about? I want to get back to the real world where things make sense again I said. And where is that? asked the boy. I was taken aback, and a part of me wanted to shake some sense into that all too annoying boy. Yet another larger part was rather inquired and saw the game the boy proposed. I quickly collected my mind and scanned it for likely possibilities. After some contemplation I slowly said. Since I don’t remember the past or who I am, I must be having a psychotic or medical emergency, dreaming, or perhaps under the influence of some rather insane psychedelics. Something like that maybe?
None of those are true the boy said flatly, but I like your imagination. I took a second and again tried to twist out some logical explanation for the situation from my brain.
Within physics there is a concept of a Boltzmann brain. Given an almost infinite amount of time, and everything we know about modern physics random particles will spontaneously emerge into existence. In the space of all time this will happen infinitely many times. Some of these particles will happen to be in the structure of a human brain. This brain will spontaneously spawn into existence, perhaps think one thought then disappear again. This is what’s called a Boltzmann brain. They are inevitable in modern physics, and since the amount of them are infinite and the amount of humans are finite, the likelihood of one actually being a hallucinating Boltzmann brain is a hundred percent.
Statistically speaking, I said slowly. I would be most likely to be a Boltzmann brain, is that the answer you are looking for?
The boy suddenly looked as if I had said something funny. I felt myself getting irritated and said coldly. Well if you know why don’t you just tell me? I want to get out of here. The boy looked at me oddly. I know a great deal many things said the boy. I know that you will not believe my answer to that question, so I may as well wait a little longer before telling you.
That’s it! I blurted out, perhaps a bit too loudly. I am sick of this game! I may be suffering from some kind of stroke. I need immediate help! Where the hell am I? The answer to your stupid riddle is a Boltzmann brain. Based on physics I am most likely to be a Boltzmann brain. Now tell me where I am.
The boy had a quick chuckle, then said. You seem overly confident of your knowledge of physics for someone that thinks he is a Boltzmann brain. What if I tell you that the physical laws you think you know are wrong. They are only figments of your constructed reality. They are not really how the universe works.
It felt like I had been punched in the face. If what this boy said was right, I was in far more trouble than I previously believed. Not trusting my own reason was a prospect that scared me more than anything else. And considering I was maybe having a psychotic experience, the idea that my mind might be serving me absolute rubbish seemed all too likely. Not having any better idea, I dumbly asked. What is the real physics of the world? Can you explain to me the physical laws so I at least can have a sound logic for attempting to answer your question.
The boy looked serious for a moment. You don’t seem to understand, there are no physical laws of the universe. The universe does not fundamentally run on logic. What you perceive as logic is simply a cleverly put together illusion, nothing more.
That cannot be I said. A universe not based in logic, cannot produce thinking creatures. It could not create a conscious experience. You need laws for that. Thoughts are structured math. You need some framework, I cannot exist outside of logic.
The boy now looked down and picked up some strange looking device. The device was made of brass, but its shape was utterly incomprehensible, as in I could not understand it. Without looking up the boy spoke. You seem to believe that you could be a Boltzmann brain. You believe a universe built on logic can produce a totally random experience. This experience can and most likely will be totally without any internal logic. Yet, somehow you refuse to acknowledge the opposite. That a universe not based on any logic could likewise give birth to a creature that believes in an illusion called logic.
What? I said. I simply could not understand this. Or perhaps I did not want to understand it. It made no sense, and sense was all I had left.
What you think of as the underlying logic of reality, is not universal. Logic is far from all there is. There are other spheres within and outside of reality that are just as fundamental and important as logic, the question is therefore which of these spheres you live in.
This must have been the most nonsensical thing I had heard yet. Outside of logic and reality? What could there even be? If something is outside of reality it does not exist. If it’s outside of logic it does not make sense. So what do I know? Descartes’ famous line emerged from my subconscious. I think therefore I am. Well forget about the thinking part, but I am left no option rather than believing I exist within the sphere of what’s real. Perhaps I also exist within the sphere of logic, or perhaps that is merely an illusion. Theoretically speaking there may be a sphere with logic somewhere else. Parts of that sphere may also overlap with reality. I can imagine that in that overlap there could also be creatures. Perhaps some material universe. Finally I said. You are suggesting there are other spheres. So perhaps something else overlaps with both reality and logic. And in that cross-section I am? Something like that?
Now the boy laughed loudly. He continued like this for quite a while until he suddenly went quiet and looked up at me. Sorry, for laughing, and sorry for misleading you. Of course you exist within logic and reality. It’s just too funny to see creatures of only logic and reality try to grasp the other spheres. You seem to not have realized it, but the way you described what’s outside of logic was with using set theory.
Some of logic lies within reality, and some other thing intersects there and so on. All that is logic. You are trying to use logic to describe what’s outside of logic. It’s like a 2D creature trying to point to the third dimension. The universe is fundamentally not some spheres adhering to set theory. Set theory lives well inside logic. I never said there was an overlap between logic and reality. There are no other spheres as distinct sets, but they may still exist. In the structure of the universe as a whole there are no numbers, no idea of fundamentality, no fact, no structure of the universe as a whole, all structures exist within logic.
Every time you try to grasp at these other spheres, you lose them. They cannot be thought of because the moment you do so, you categorize them and systematize them with forms of logic. These spheres cannot be proven or disproven. Only known of. So now you know, you only exist within reality and logic, but there is no reason there cannot be more.
So, what’s your question? All that come here have a question. I know many answers, but I hardly know many questions, so would you share yours?
The nonsensicality of this last sentence went completely unhindered through my smoldering remnants of a mind. I guess I started slowly. I guess I would like to know what I truly am.
Oh, said the boy, that’s a rather uninteresting question. Would you not like to ask something else this time? No, I said without thinking. I want to know what I am.
Alright started the boy. You are simply a character in a text. You are merely living in the heads of the readers the moment they read the text. Your experience is simulated in other creatures. You live within logic and reality, but your reality is so far removed from the reality of the readers that you may as well assume you live within some other spheres.
After some time, I found myself laughing. No, I am not a character in a book. Why am I even listening to you? I can feel pain. I can feel happiness. Now I feel anger. That anger is real. Explain to me how a character in a book can experience anything. I have frankly had enough of this conversation and would like to leave now. If you know so much about everything, can you get me out of this room? Can you manage that one thing? Get me out of here now!
Alright, said the boy.