• A decade ago astronomers made the revolutionary discovery that the expansion of the universe is speeding up. They are still working out is implications.
• The quickening expansion will eventually pull galaxies apart faster than light, causing them to drop out of view. This process eliminates reference points for measuring expansion and dilutes the distinctive products of the big bang to nothingness. In short, it erases all the signs that a big bang ever occurred.
• To our distant descendants, the universe will look like a small puddle of stars in an endless, changeless void.
• What knowledge has the universe already erased?

14 Comments

1. 1. venger_steelheart 05:55 AM 2/29/08

   maybe we would figure out how to make a new universe in the future based on what we can collect right now

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2. 2. Hugh Jones 07:29 PM 2/29/08

   The authors have proposed a scenario that truly reaches the limits of conscious thinking. But lets look at the other side of the equation. Our definition of intelligence 100 billion years from now can only be subjective because it's limited to what we can define it now. Given that our present society could be analogous to a sponge in biology, what if through as yet undefined Quantum process we acquired the collective mental processing powers of as yet undefined entity. Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark in "Childhoods End" explores such a prospect. In Neil F. Comin's "Hazards Of Space" pretty much puts to rest notions of travel in the "Starship Enterprise". Transporting thoughts instantaneously through the Internet was unthinkable only a few hundred years ago, how can we possibly imagine a world 100 billion years hence armed with only our Newtonian linear space/time perceptions?

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3. 3. Mr. James Saito 08:33 PM 3/4/08

   How is this possible? There will be no one to confirm or deny this theory. It is ablolutely mindless to project what would happen in the future. The future is not ours to see. Kay-Cera-Cera.

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4. 4. FredCassis 12:50 PM 3/5/08

   Is doom the only event to power your imagination???
   No wonder that all we are going toward is just more & more negativity.
   U know u have the right to more positivity, & if you are waiting for permission, here I give it, happy now ? Go enjoy a normal Life, we all deserve it

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5. 5. suprabuddha 12:30 AM 3/7/08

   Lets' have an END OF COSMOLOGY party!!!

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6. 6. bookgal50 10:59 PM 3/7/08

   Isn't this more informational than Bush's
   reasoning that the world is going to end in 100 years.

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7. 7. Mike in Poquoson 06:23 PM 3/9/08

   I read the article and watched the video. I have a question. Does this first person observation apply to all observers in the universe? Let us take 3 observers; (A) us (here on Earth), (B) nearby aliens (those that are getting closer to us, about 2/3 of the way to the contracting/expanding boarder), and (C) faraway aliens (those that are about twice as far as the nearby aliens, on the other side of the contracting/expanding boarder). The article is read from A's point of view or C's point of view. A and C agree that they will never meet again, however B will still be in their neighborhood. B sees A and C coming to the center with them. How can A and C meet at B if they are moving apart?

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8. 8. El Barto 08:09 AM 3/17/08

   Cosmology is not a science and I wish the end of it would come sooner.

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9. 9. gmusser 06:55 PM 3/19/08

   Mike: The quick answer is that all observers see the same situation unfold. In the big bang model, the universe is symmetrical, with no preferred location.
   
   El Barto: Perhaps you could enlighten us and explain why you think cosmology is not a science.
   
   Everyone: 99% of the questions about this article and video can be answered by reading our article on the big bang from March 2005, at http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=misconceptions-about-the-2005-03.
   
   George Musser

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10. 10. Clobba 03:27 AM 3/20/08

    Chemtrails will spell the end of us before the end of cosmology.

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11. 11. pichamuthu 06:35 AM 3/20/08

    comology is universal where by live by its self. changes are due to nature of take place.

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12. 12. zozoconde 07:38 PM 4/5/08

    i dont believe things will happen this way .all our wishful thinking are not realized .we can always analyse the past but as to predicting future that is something else

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13. 13. hueter 08:30 AM 5/14/10

    good!

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14. 14. debu 01:05 AM 8/15/10

    READ BALLOON INSIDE BALLOON THEORY OF MATTER AND ANTIMATTER UNIVERSE ON OPPOSITE ENTROPY PATH TO UNDERSTAND AN ETERNAL RE CYCLIC TWIN UNIVERSE OF MATTER AND ANTIMATTER ON CP VIOLATION AT REBOUNCE WHEN ONE REACHES ZERO ENTROPY . AS SUCH NO NEED OF FEAR AGAIN IN A SUITABLE LAW FRAME ,WE WILL COME BACK AFTER MANY CYCLES AND AGAIN PONDER ABOUT UNIVERSE . DURGADAS DATTA PUBLISHED ETHER=GRAVITY=DARK ENERGY THEORY OF GRAVITOETHERTONS AND BALLOON INSIDE BALLOON THEORY IN ASTRONOMY.NET IN YEAR 2002 AND THERE IS NO NEED OF ANY FEAR.

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