the end of all things

[The D.S.]

here's a thought for the ages

suppose the universe goes on and on, maybe us humans do make it through the long hardships of life without killing ourselves first and live to see the days when we travel to the distant stars...a glorious thought, but what about the end? the universe willl either collapse back in on itself time after time again, until who knows when, or it will spread forever and all life will eventually fade.

I would like everyones opinion on whether or not they beleive that "the end" is truly the end or not. In my personal opinion, i do not see an end ever occuring, for if there was an end, i beleive i would not be here as i am. I beleive in something far greater than the limits of our world, i like to think of reality as a prison sometimes, much like in "The Matrix".

My logic for this kind of thinking stems from my everyday life experiance. Who hasn't waken up in the morning and asked themselves why in the world they are stuck here, in a place that can feel like a prison for mind. Often at times i find myself asking myself why suck restirctions are in place, and why i am in being at all. Why should anything be instead of nothing? Then i realize that maybe something must always be, perhaps it is the unwritten law that being must take place for there can be no end at all....an idea i wish for u all to think about.

until next time

[kaelcarp]

Obviously, no one knows what is going to happen, but it might be that the very presence of intelligence in the universe causes it not to end. Consider what humanity has achieved in its very brief time here. Imagine where we will be in one million years (assuming we or whatever we produce or become survive). It's unfathomable. I mean, it's hard to picture 100 years, never mind a million. I think that it's pretty likely that we'll find a way to spread across the universe if we don't kill ourselves.

And if we manage to do that, we may well manage to learn how to manipulate space itself to create energy. We may even learn how to create a new universe with a new big bang, existing in some previously unknown pocket inside our universe. Who knows? The imagination can run wild with ideas.

What I do know is that nothing is set in stone when you think about that kind of scale. Yes, if left to its own devices, the universe will behave in a certain way. But what if it is not left to its own devices? We have billions of years to solve that.

[Fishteacher73]

It would be highly unlikely that anything resembling Homo sapiens would be around for the end of the universe. If we grant an oscilating universe in which everything will eventually succumb to a sigularity in a big crunch we have at least aprox. 14 billion years before that occurs(We're still expanding right now, so even if at this moment it started collapsing, it would me billions of years before we were "crunched"). Given that time span, it would be unlikely that the humans would be in any form recognizable today (If we survived at all, even the longest dynasty has only been about 300 million years (trilobites)). Given the clutter of "open space" the Earth is bound to be smaked by something that surely will wipe out the humans. If that doesn't do it just take a look at our current ecological situation....I do not foresee any sustainablity in the huiman species in the long haul.

[lindagarrette]

Originally Posted by Fishteacher73

It would be highly unlikely that anything resembling Homo sapiens would be around for the end of the universe..

I think it is highly probable that humans will survive. Within the next thousand years, we will have developed a means of harnessing solar power for energy and begun to colonize the galaxy. There have to be ways to manage any environmental obstacle we encounter. We may even be able to prevent the end from happening.

[kaelcarp]

Originally Posted by Fishteacher73

I do not foresee any sustainablity in the huiman species in the long haul.

I would disagree to a point. I do think that humans as a whole are quite adaptable. It may happen that a large number of us will get wiped out at some point, but I find it more likely that we would learn how to get off this planet before a cataclysm than otherwise.

Where I agree is that I don't necessarily think that "we" will remain in a form that humans of today would necessarily recognize as human. Rather, our descendents, be they machines or some future biological concoction, are likely to be the ones who continue on. I don't necessarily mean sons and daughters when I say descendents, but our intellectual descendents.

[C1ay]

I don't believe there will be an end. I certainly don't think there will ever be a big crunch. I think as mass moves through space it will travel away from some mass and toward other mass. We have galaxies now moving away from each other while other galaxies are colliding with each other and merging. I think expansion is just a localized property of our universe in a larger infinite space. If you throw a rock in a pond it will send waves expanding in all directions. once they have dissipated the water that carried them will still be there to carry more waves.

[arkain101]

If we are homo sapiens, and were once homo erectus, and before that, bent over sapien, and before that a monkey or gorilla, then what was the monkey or gorrilla before that, ive never seen an evolution chart go before monkey, was the monky a preditor? forward eyes... did it once have no legs.. id be interested on these thoughts.

Also, If Im am a concsiousness because I have a brain, and have a concsious ness because that brain has cells, and I am a concsiousness because those cells pass electrons from their atoms to others, and I am a concsiousness because, 75% of the cells are water molecules contained by bags, and I am a concsiousness because those atoms emmit energy and have a nucleaus, and I am a conciousness because the nucleus has quarks, and I am a consciousness because those quarks have something else, and I am a consciousness because those something elses have something else, and I am a consciousness because underneath all the somthing elses is even more something else untill eventually everything is one. Surly, I wouldnt of been able to say that if it all started from some somethings touching somethings.

[infamous]

Originally Posted by lindagarrette

I think it is highly probable that humans will survive. Within the next thousand years, we will have developed a means of harnessing solar power for energy and begun to colonize the galaxy. There have to be ways to manage any environmental obstacle we encounter. We may even be able to prevent the end from happening.

I agree Linda, there is an old saying; 'Necessity is the mother of invention'. So far mankind has used his ingenuity to solve many of these environmental problems. Notice, I did say many of these enviornmental problems, not all. But when push comes to shove, I'm betting on the human ability to come up with the solutions.

[TIDUSGIYA]

There Is No Begining Without The Balance For The End And Viceversa. The Center Of The Universe Is Earth, Because Where No Life Is Found But The Center Of The Universe.

If The Big Bang Happened And It Did Implode Before It Exploded Then Its More Than Likly That There Is A Huge Black Hole At The Center Of The Universe. When The Magnetic Force That Holds All Stars And Galaxies, Everything. The Magnetic Force Would Be Less Every Time A Star Dies. If The Universe Has Existed Just This Time Then Where Did Its Energy Come From. If The Big Bang Happened Then It Must Have Happened Before. Energy Eventually Fades Away Doesnt It.

[Taraxanoid]

I do not believe in beginnings or endings. I believe that everything that has existed, still exists and everything that has not or will eventually exist, exists. It is not wise to think of merely one Universe, but an infinite array of them. This can be classified as a Multiverse. But really, Infinity is an element of which does not have an ending. And every theoretical beginning must have an ending in order for it to be a beginning of anything. Life can be manipulated. Human beings belong to the category of life. We can be manipulated. I believe we are being manipulated by an unknown source in order for us to believe in beginnings and endings. We are all immortal because the Universe(s) of which we occupy are infinite. Humans will last until the 'end' because the 'end' is a mere creation of us - life.