Gravitational theory

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The objectives of the proposed research program are to gain significant new knowledge of gravitational theory and quantum gravity and their implications for the universe as a whole, for black holes, and for other structures within the universe. In cosmology, my main goal is to make progress toward solving the measure problem, the problem of how to make predictions for the probabilities of observations in universes that have inflated so large that nearly all possible observations are almost certain to occur somewhere. I have shown that this problem is logically independent of the rules of standard quantum theory, so new rules are needed. I have also found that many attempted solutions to the measure problem predict the absurd result that we are most likely Boltzmann brains, highly disordered observers that would form by thermal or vacuum fluctuations rather than by biological evolution and natural selection. I plan to investigate ideas I have for solving the measure problem and for avoiding the Boltzmann brain catastrophe, such as measures that do not give higher probabilities to larger volumes of space that would give preference to future epochs when Boltzmann brains would dominate.