Big Picture Science for May. 23, 2022 - End of Eternity

Big Picture Science - End of Eternity

(REPEAT) Nothing lasts forever. Even the universe has several possible endings. Will there be a dramatic Big Rip or a Big Chill­–also known as the heat death of the universe–in trillions of years? Or will vacuum decay, which could theoretically happen at any moment, do us in? Perhaps the death of a tiny particle – the proton – will bring about the end.

We contemplate big picture endings in this episode, and whether one could be brought about by our own machine creations.

Guests: 

• Anders Sandberg – Researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford
• Katie Mack – Assistant professor of physics at North Carolina State University, and the author of “The End of Everything, Astrophysically Speaking.”
• Brian Greene – Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia, and author of “Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe”

This repeat podcast originally aired on May 3, 2021

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/end-of-eternity

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