The rise of uncertainty in entropy and the arrow of time

Ludwig Boltzmann’s memorial marker includes his famous formula that established entropy as the number of possible microstates in a macrostate.

A long read that explores changing ideas about entropy and the arrow of time. Entropy is now seen as a measure of uncertainty. How does that change our ideas of time and eternity?

Pew Research shows that 17% of Americans don’t believe in the afterlife. That means more than 80% do. That is remarkable given the cultural dominance of physicalism as a belief system. This is a standout example of cognitive dissonance where we hold contradictory beliefs with equal certainty. Psychologically, cognitive dissonance isn’t healthy. Culturally, it may not be either. So, what will give: our intuitive confidence in “something more?” Or will we conclude that science despite its great track record, can’t be right?

Science and the afterlife

Most consider the question of the afterlife to be out of the realm of empirical science. The increase in research and public interest in NDEs, Near Death Experiences, and other possible examples of conscious experience existing out of the confines of a living physical brain, place this area closer to the confines of traditional science. This is highly controversial. What is not are the physical laws based on observations over centuries. The common understanding is that the physical laws preclude anything outside our physical universe, including an afterlife.