Friday, February 11, 2011

The Fate of The Universe: Revisited

The cosmologic model we have been refining for decades based on astronomical observations and particle-physics experiments holds a very dark and lifeless end for our universe. Either it will continue to expand for all eternity and the densitiy of matter and energy will approximate zero. Or it will someday stop to expand, implode and crush all matter and energy into a tiny spot not larger than the Plack-lenght (~1.6 x 10⁻³⁵ m). So it's either a lifeless desert full of nothingness, or the Big Crunch. Not very appealing, is it?

Well this model doesn't take one extremely important factor into account: Intelligence. Intelligence is the single most powerful force in the universe. This is a fact due to our old friend, exponentiality. While yet we still tremble before the might of an earthquake or a hurricane, in a few hundred years we will harvest the entire power of our sun and in a million years (still only 0,00000073% of the current age of the universe) we will have engaged in pastimes such as Stellar Husbandry and zero-energy computation with megascale constructions of black holes.

The death of the universe is very slow process. It will take at least 10²⁰ years for the last star to die out and 10⁸⁰ years for the (hyothetical) proton decay to become non-negligible. These are extremely long time-spans. Even if the growth of intelligence (that is us and our descendants, if we don't encounter extraterrestrial intelligence.) slows down dramatically (if, for example we can't break the barrier of the speed of light) the exponential nature of it will result in a universe saturated with intelligence, before proton decay would become a problem.

Imagine the beauty of a universe turned into a single gigantic zero-energy supercomputer running a neverending simulation (as real as everything you know and then some) of all individuals that ever were, of everything precious to intelligence. We could even create new universes from the holes in space-time occuring in the center of black holes.  We truly would be gods, gods greater than every human could fathom. I deeply believe that this is the ultimate Fate of the Universe. 

All hail intelligence!


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22 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2011 at 7:15 AM

    All this stuff really blows my mind. We are all but a mere speck of dust in the universe.

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  2. DBtG5February 11, 2011 at 7:43 AM

    zero-energy supercomputer? I think not, my friend.

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  3. Daddy DoesFebruary 11, 2011 at 8:10 AM

    Hail intelligence! Informative. Thank you.

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  4. STILLhumanFebruary 11, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    @DBtG5 go look up 'reversible computing', it requires exactly zero energy. you only need a ery small amount of it to correct ramdom quantum-mechanical errors (and those are pretty rare)

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  5. PMG ChecKFebruary 11, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    Interesting read, Intelligence really is a powerful thing, isn't it?

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  6. UghFebruary 11, 2011 at 11:31 AM

    Informative piece.

    Thanks :D

    xx

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  7. Stuff that matters, stuff that don'tFebruary 11, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    I don't see how intelligence allows us to move black holes. Interesting read, but I don't think its plausible. Who knows though?

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  8. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2011 at 12:49 PM

    hail intelligence indeed!

    shame i won't be around when this happens.

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  9. MikeFebruary 11, 2011 at 3:16 PM

    Interesting read though i am a bit confused now..

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  10. UnknownFebruary 11, 2011 at 7:44 PM

    Wow, very interesting mindset....it's true that humans have the capacity for growth and intelligence and I believe that there is nothing that we can't achieve if we give in to that intelligence rather than continue to cower before our own ignorance....like a lot of people do....All Hail Intelligence!

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  11. DanielFebruary 12, 2011 at 7:53 AM

    Makes you scared how relatively small a person really is. :P

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  12. JorgeFebruary 12, 2011 at 7:57 AM

    This really blew my mind.

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  13. PahGrestyFebruary 12, 2011 at 8:07 AM

    Nice post this pal. hope to read more
    Following you and adding to Morning coffee!
    x

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  14. D22 ZoneFebruary 12, 2011 at 8:09 AM

    This is some deep opinions that you've stated here man, keep up the good work!

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  15. bbmike15February 12, 2011 at 10:19 AM

    cant wait to see whats next!


    If anyone wants the REAL news follow me
    http://bbmike15-thenews.blogspot.com

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  16. shadiFebruary 12, 2011 at 10:32 AM

    Interesting read,thanks

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  17. MeFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:14 AM

    thsi right here blows my mind

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  18. Full HD WallpapersFebruary 13, 2011 at 7:41 AM

    What if you take the second entrance first?

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  19. elexerdelexFebruary 13, 2011 at 10:32 AM

    Wow I can't wait to become immortal and live to see the end of the universe...
    what would come after that? Will we know when it ends? Did ''time'' have a beginning, and will it have an end?
    I really am curious!

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  20. TiumFebruary 13, 2011 at 10:00 PM

    "Imagine the beauty of a universe turned into a single gigantic zero-energy supercomputer running a neverending simulation"
    What's to say that's not exactly what the universe is? We would never know.

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  21. STILLhumanFebruary 14, 2011 at 7:04 AM

    Well we can tell by the way the particles are arranged in the universe. stars and planets are not really efficient for computation. you have to arrange all matter in a very intricate and specific way to achieve maximum computation capacity.

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  22. The GovernorFebruary 16, 2011 at 10:12 AM

    all hail intelligence is correct

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