NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.exitmundi.nl/exitmundi.htm


The first story titled ......! with a guy staring at static on a TV.


Please, don't go insane now. Of all the apocalypses on this site, the one you’re about to read is probably the most mind-boggling of them all. For what will eternity look like? Think of a place where everything has ceased to exist, where golden parkings pop out of nowhere, Napoleon Bonaparte comes back to life and the Twin Towers resurrect themselves. Still, this incredible place is exactly where we are heading, physicists expect.


Empty your mind. We’re about to take a BIG leap into the future. Not just a lousy few billions of years, but 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 years!

One ‘googol’ years, is the official word for that number. It’s the current age of the Universe, one billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion times over. Squeeze the entire history of our Universe into the thickness of a dollar bill, and one googol years would give you a pile of money that reaches one hundred quadrillion quadrillion quadrillion quadrillion light years high. It wouldn’t even fit in our Universe.

One googol years. That’s truly staggering. Beyond anything a human can comprehend.

First, let’s fast-forward to the not-so-awfully-far future. For the coming billions of years, scientists predict quite a ride. The Sun will explode, the Milky Way will slam into another galaxy. The Cosmos might collapse, or get torn apart -- scientists can’t seem to decide yet which is more likely. And even if the Universe doesn’t do that, we’re destined to face a weird and horrible crisis, which involves us spending our lifetime as sleeping robots.

The problem is that the Universe gets bigger and cooler. Ever since the Big Bang, it expands, much like an expanding ball of fire after an explosion. Right now, the Universe is still young. It has these cute stars and twinkling galaxies. But in the long run, that will change. Slowly but inevitably, the Universe will empty itself.


First, the galaxies will fly out of sight, beyond the horizon of what we can possibly see. Next, the stars in our own galaxy will burn out, one after the other. The only thing that will remain, is a dull graveyard of cold planets, dead suns and black holes. In about one hundred trillion years, the Milky Way will go black, astronomers expect.

And eventually, even this graveyard decays. One after the other, the dead stars and planets are eaten by black holes, or kicked out of the Milky Way by collisions. Astronomers expect that in one hundred to one thousand billion billion years, our galaxy has dissolved completely.

Time goes on. After a while (more trillions of years) something else will kick in. You’ll notice that even the very stuff nature is made of, isn’t stable. A proton, the particle you’ll find in the core of atoms, has an average lifetime of 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 years. Wait long enough, and it will suddenly vanish. Poof, gone. The same goes for light particles, the so-called ‘photons’. They’re expected to last a few zero’s longer, but in the end, they too will kick the bucket, one after the other. Isn’t that just bizarre? The light will go out, literally.

The last thing that survives, are the black holes. But in the end, they too will vanish. They will evaporate in a puff of radiation.

So there we are, at our unimaginable one googol years. Finally, the Universe is totally and utterly empty. You won’t see any light or spot any planet -- in fact, you won’t even find the tiniest speck of dust. The Universe has sterilized itself. All there is left, is emptiness, and darkness. Total oblivion. And worst of all: there’s nothing we can do to stop it. We can build fancy machines or futuristic devices all we like -- but in the end, they’ll all get kicked out of existence, when the matter they are made of simply vanishes.

So there you have it: infinity. Booooring, we must add.

But don’t sob. There’s an upside.

As the quadrillions of years pass by, something very odd should happen. In eternity, even the rarest events get a chance to occur. Weird, bizarre phenomena that only happen once in a zillion years or so, become quite normal.

For example: the nothingness should yield a few surprises. Already, physicists know that in a vacuum, there are sometimes tiny little energy ‘blobs’. Little, random fluctuations of the so-called ‘quantum vacuum’. Out of nowhere, tiny particles pop in and out of existence. But theory predicts that on very, VERY rare occasions, the fluctuations should be a bit larger. Out of nowhere, an entire atom might appear! Or hey, the vacuum may even spit out a few of them!

Think of it like the static on TV. Wait long enough, and out of the random fuzz, a recognizable image might materialize. Wait REALLY long, and one day a complete episode of The Bold And The Beautiful should accidentally show up!

In the Universe, this should give some really surprising results. With eternity at hand, the vacuum should begin to yield all kinds of objects. Incoherent lumps of random garbage, most of the time. But on very, very rare occasions, you’ll see other objects popping into existence. The Eiffel tower. A purple camel. A golden parking garage filled with chocolate Cadillacs. Napoleon Bonaparte sitting next to Mike Tyson on top of a stack of comic books. As the googols of years pass by, it’s all there.

In the VERY, VERY, VERY long run, the vacuum will even belch up complete planets, and beautiful stars, burning and all. Theoretically the vacuum should even churn out a complete solar system one day, identical to ours, with a planet Earth inhabited by people. "In an infinite amount of time, one day, I will reappear", as physicist Katherine Freese of Michigan University once put it. "An crazy thought, but true."

One day the black nothingness should even produce a new Big Bang. Admittedly, we’ll have wait really long for it to happen. Researchers of the University of Chicago once tried to calculate it. And according to their best estimates, it should happen somewhere over the next 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 years. That’s a one with 1056 zero’s. You can count them, if you like.



Interesting. To think in time I could be belched out by the universe riding a purple cow with Julius Caesar.

I'm not to sure about the whole probability reaching 100% with time sounds a tad fuzzy to me

I'm not to sure about the whole probability reaching 100% with time sounds a tad fuzzy to me


You are no fun.

gnaw, there is no "end to all stuff", nor begining to it.

though there are ends and beginings to species and the humans of earth are no more immune to this then any other.

even that end can be a very long ways away if we start caring enought about the kind of world we are creating for each other to learn and understand the real natural mechanisms by which we do so and behaive ourselves accordingly.

if we don't, it will be our own doing as well.

the point though, that the time scales involved are unimmaginably vast is absolutely a valid one and one more people need to truely understand.

=^^=
.../\...

You are no fun.

*holds onto hope that I will live forever* :p

Somehow I suspect this is a cheap excuse to use the word googol(1 x 10^100). Though I am disappointed they didn't use googolplex(1 x 10^(1 x 10^100)).

I'm sure there was a Futurama episode about this...

exitmundi.nl is a brilliant website. I'd marry it if I could (although seeing as its Dutch, I might be able to...)

If the vacuum can actually create a new big bang, what makes us think that there weren't several other universes before, then? Maybe this big bang we had was just another one.

If the vacuum can actually create a new big bang, what makes us think that there weren't several other universes before, then? Maybe this big bang we had was just another one.

Nobody's saying this is the first universe.

Nobody's saying this is the first universe.

Well, yeah.
But in the light of this theory, that is. I had no idea about the googol years before this thread.

Nifty. Bookmarked.

I'm sure there was a Futurama episode about this...

Sadly, there wasn't...maybe a future episode when it returns in 2008...

Sadly, there wasn't...maybe a future episode when it returns in 2008...

Or in 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000002008.

Sadly, there wasn't...maybe a future episode when it returns in 2008...

There was an episode of Red Dwarf about it called 'sdrawkcaB', it was pretty revolutionary and quite funny, but I don't think you can get RD mixed up with Futurama.

Or in 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000002008.

Or for an encore in 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002008.

For the lazy, there are 500 zeros there. That's a googol to the fifth effing power.

Hey, it could happen. I wonder if Fry will have won Leela's heart by then.

Neat:)

http://www.exitmundi.nl/exitmundi.htm


The first story titled ......! with a guy staring at static on a TV.
That was blatantly based on this slightly more scientific article:

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/end.html

What happens if we find a way to leave this universe and go to another one? Sort of pwns the risk of the end of all stuff...

strange, but if its happened before, then why do I not remember my past life?

I don't believe it...or maybe I don't want to. I never believe that Universe will end stuff though.

wait... googol- google

OMFGASM! GOOGLE IS PLANNING TO CONQUER THE UNIVERSE!


well in time everyone will i guess....

I find it disturbing that 600 tons of warm gooey caramel could suddenly and inexplicably appear in my living room for no apparent reason.

Disturbing, yet enticing. :)

I find it disturbing that 600 tons of warm gooey caramel could suddenly and inexplicably appear in my living room for no apparent reason.

Disturbing, yet enticing. :)

That is odd.

However, this HAS explained why Napoleon has been sleeping on my couch for the past few weeks, and refuses to leave. I was wondering about that for a while.

That is odd.

However, this HAS explained why Napoleon has been sleeping on my couch for the past few weeks, and refuses to leave. I was wondering about that for a while.

Right dude, he's so stubborn, I guess you got him after I did, he wouldn't even make an attempt at getting out until a unit of the Old Guard marched passed my house, telling him that some Cossacks were out to get him.

That is odd.

However, this HAS explained why Napoleon has been sleeping on my couch for the past few weeks, and refuses to leave. I was wondering about that for a while.
You want obnoxious? I got Nero about a month back. The bastard won't stop playing that damn fiddle.:mad:

And once again science proves faith for this obviously explains Jesus' second coming. *nod* :)

You want obnoxious? I got Nero about a month back. The bastard won't stop playing that damn fiddle.:mad:

Hey, I got Moses.

He keeps splashing my tomato soup everywhere :(

strangely enough, and Im being absolutely truthful about this, my mouse dissapeared for 20 minutes today, it was on the table, when I left the room and had come back it was gone, I searched all around the house for it and then when I returned it was there again. Now nobody was in the house at the time and nobody could have gotten in so I can only conclude that its quantum probability was re-distributed somewhere else in the universe

A question: if larger more complex combinations of atoms appear over time with the eternity of any ever expanding universe, does that mean that the universe as it was at one point in time with all the particles in it and so forth will exist in the present universe?

You want obnoxious? I got Nero about a month back. The bastard won't stop playing that damn fiddle.:mad:

Well hell, anything is better than Ghengis Khan. I had him before Napolean, and all he would do all day is "conquer" various parts of the house, and "pillage" the area, tearing everyhting apart looking for gold or some such nonsense. Then he would constantly eat ALL of the food in the fridge, and say he'd buy groceries next time... gah.

At least you get music.

A googol of years seems like a long time, but just imagine what might happen in a Graham's number of years!

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=752584