You are aware that multicellular life exist less than 500Myrs right?
The event you're worried about is so far out in the future that no discussion about humans, or any living organism for that matter, is meaningless.
Ask HN: Does anyone feel anxious about the Sun's death or is it just me?
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Re: Ask HN: Does anyone feel anxious about the Sun's death or is it just me?
#22We have a chance that human civilization doesn't last next century, maybe even this one. We have a far closer existential threat right in front of us. If you want to feel anxious about something, try that. In practice, it won't make any difference.
Regarding time scale, 15 thousands of years ago there was no civilization, 100 thousands of years ago there were not even language, a couple of millions of years ago there were not even hominids. In that context 5 billion years (or just one, as when the sun starts to get into red giant phase life won't be possible here) is just meaningless.
In the other direction, change in our civilization is accelerating, how we went from knowing barely the continents were in, to finally have a global understanding of how it was the world, then global communications, fast travel, globalization, internet and AIs were things that happened increasingly faster. If we don't crash soon somehow. we might be able to at the very least to make self-sufficient space environments within this millennium and not be tied to a single planet.
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone feel anxious about the Sun's death or is it just me?
#23No, it's not just you. I see variations of this all the time on Quora. And even more questions about the even-more-remote Heat Death of the Universe, and how we might go about preventing it.
I've put a little bit of thought into where this might come from. It's clearly not a realistic thought. There is no meaningful way it impacts your life. Both evolution and technology progress on vastly faster time scales, and so there is nothing for you to gain from thinking about it now.
Pop psychology suggests that it's perhaps depression or boredom. They're catastrophizing to avoid thinking about something else.
If it's causing you distress, you could consider seeing a therapist to get to the root of the problem (which almost certainly has nothing to do with the sun). If it's merely a way for you to amuse yourself and isn't making you unhappy, it's no worse a hobby than a lot of others I can think of.
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone feel anxious about the Sun's death or is it just me?
#24If you have an anxious personality, you will unconsciously seek out things to worry about. Your question could be about the Sun, but it could also be about your back-rationalization of your emotions. You feel worried, and today you were thinking about the Sun, therefore the Sun must be making you feel worried.
I try hard not to worry about the things I cannot change.
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone feel anxious about the Sun's death or is it just me?
#25Outer Wilds comes to mind. It's literally a species having to deal with this