In what can only be described as a massive relief for us all, physicists say there is now good evidence that a legion of floating space brains are not spontaneously bursting into existence throughout the universe.
You see, for about a decade now a thought experiment has been doing the rounds that says so-called Boltzmann brains– self-aware conscious entities with no external physical presence- might exist in space.
The idea goes that given a suitably dramatic timescale, energy and matter, it’s possible that a consciousness could form into a working mind, of its own accord, in space.
But according to New Scientist it now seems less likely that reality as we know it is dominated by space superbrains.
A bit of Further Reading or if you’re feeling adventurous you might want to try the report itself: Multivacuum initial conditions and the arrow of time.
Hyper-Intelligent Superbrains Floating In Deep Space Probably Don’t Outnumber Humanity, Say Physicists via Huffington Post