What if the universe really will collapse back in itself?
By djhybrid
@djhybrid (94)
June 29, 2008 3:52pm CST
I read in a book by Stephen Hawking that there are many theories as to the future of the universe. I was particularly interested in the theory that the expansion of the universe will stop and then collapse back in on itself resulting in the "Big crunch".
If this turned out to be true, do you think human advancement would slow down, stop or remain unchanged? Would people still true to find a cure for the current illnesses in the world?
If you were on the earth in the final remaining years, what would you do?
1 response
@Wolfechu (1193)
• United States
29 Jun 08
I wouldn't worry too much about it, to be honest. It's still expanding at the moment, given that a) everything is still moving away from everything else, and b) the light from the big bang is still blueshifting into microwave radiation by the time it reaches us.
So even if it started contracting tomorrow, we've got a minimum of 11 billion years before it would conceivably be a problem. The Earth will be gone from the Sun expanding about 6 billion years before that. If we haven't managed to colonise other star systems by that point, it won't be a going concern. And really, the average species only lasts a few million years at most. The Dinosaurs had a pretty good innings with several hundred million. I doubt we'll break their record.
