  In most attempts to compute the Hartle-Hawking ``wave function of the
universe'' in Euclidean quantum gravity, two important approximations are made:
the path integral is evaluated in a saddle point approximation, and only the
leading (least action) extremum is taken into account. In (2+1)-dimensional
gravity with a negative cosmological constant, the second assumption is shown
to lead to incorrect results: although the leading extremum gives the most
important single contribution to the path integral, topologically inequivalent
instantons with larger actions occur in great enough numbers to predominate.
One can thus say that in 2+1 dimensions --- and possibly in 3+1 dimensions as
well --- entropy dominates action in the gravitational path integral.
