Futurama, Marvel's Supervillains and Boltzmann Brains / Futurama, los Supervillanos del Universo Marvel y los Cerebros de Boltzmann

TL;DR

This paper explores the depiction and influence of Boltzmann brains across various media, analyzing their conceptual use in comics, animation, film, and literature, and how these representations relate to thermodynamic theories.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of Boltzmann brains in different artistic contexts and examines their philosophical and scientific implications in fiction.

Findings

Boltzmann brains are portrayed as entities emerging and disappearing in space foam.

Fictional narratives justify their existence through thermodynamic and cosmological concepts.

The concept's influence extends across comics, animation, film, and literature.

Abstract

In this article I will explore some uses of the concept of Boltzmann brains in comics (Marvel's The Incredible Hercules), an animated sitcom (Futurama) and a film (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). Previous similar uses of the concept (before Boltzmann brains were named as such) will be traced, and potential influences on these artistic outlets will be analysed. I will also explain how the concept was used in a novel published in 2018 by Ediciones Ayarmanot in Buenos Aires (La inevitable resurrecci\'on de los cerebros de Bolzmann, to be published in English as "Iridio Ennui vs. the Boltzmann brains"). After briefly reviewing the second law of thermodynamics and the concept of Boltzmann brains, the paper analyses the four artistic instances in which has been used, answering two key questions: a) How entities who (in theory) appear in the foam of interstellar space and suddenly disappear are presented in the fictional scenario? b) How the plot justifies that Boltzmann brains could exist for a time long enough to allow them to become viable fictional characters?