Saturday, 8.14pm
Sheffield, U.K.
The heat death of the universe (also known as the Big Chill or Big Freeze)[1][2] is a hypothesis on the ultimate fate of the universe, which suggests the universe will evolve to a state of no thermodynamic free energy, and will therefore be unable to sustain processes that increase entropy. – Wikipedia
I started reading Will Storr’s “The science of storytelling” today.
It starts by asking why humans think there is any point in anything given that the universe will eventually just lie down and die – that heat death will come to all.
He thinks that we tell ourselves stories to keep going – that’s the way in which we make sense of the lives we have.
If you look towards the world of biology instead, we’re programmed, like all animals, to maximise the changes of our genes surviving, presumably with an eye to lasting until the end of everything.
But does that have to be the end?
You might think that with a few years before all this happens – one followed by a thousand zeros or so – some enterprising soul will figure out how to avoid impending catastrophe.
The stars going out one by one is surely a problem that’s a little like the lights going out across an entire country’s electricity grid.
In case you don’t know much about power stations there are a few that have big yellow boxes on site that are there to provide a “black start” capability.
Recovery from an absolute blackout, that is.
One hopes that a scientist will figure out how to bang things together and make new suns, perhaps that’s the way to get out of all this.
Or is that wishful thinking?
Perhaps we should watch to see if the human intelligence that makes it possible to see the impending end of the universe can save our planet in the short term.
If we do, then perhaps there is chance after all.
Cheers,
Karthik Suresh
Handcrafted insight 