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”
Originally aired May 3, 2021
Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake
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End of Eternity (rebroadcast) | Big Picture Science podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
