The further I read, the smaller I feel.
I won't even click, I'm not sure I'll end up depressed.
I think it's worth a peek.
I think it's uplifting to know how much more there is than what goes on around these parts.
Timeline of the far future
41–50 of 272 posts
Re: Timeline of the far future
#42> Current data suggest that the universe has a flat geometry (or very close to flat), and thus, will not collapse in on itself after a finite time, and the infinite future allows for the occurrence of a number of massively improbable events, such as the formation of Boltzmann brains. I always thought that the universe will just reach zero Kelvin and the party is over. That it will just continue to do improbable stuff…
Ok, thanks guys. Quantum uncertainty is the reason we can't reach zero Kelvin, so it's kind of nonsense to ask why quantum effects still work at absolute zero. > It's not physically impossible for order to increase, it's just ridiculously unlikely. Would love to see resources that explain this (I think it comes down to quantum uncertainty again). > the basic idea is that the probability for anything to happen is diff…
Imagine you have a box with red marbles and blue marbles. You start shaking it. The marbles get mixed up. Pretty soon, they're completely mixed up. That's maximum entropy.
Now imagine you keep shaking the box for a few years or so. Just by sheer coincidence, they might end up neatly sorted for a few seconds every now and then. That's like a Boltzmann brain.
I think that's all there is to it in principle, but I'm not very informed.
Re: Timeline of the far future
#43Re: Timeline of the far future
#44Fascinating: "10^(10^50) years: Estimated time for a Boltzmann brain to appear in the vacuum via a spontaneous entropy decrease." [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain > [...] a Boltzmann brain is a self-aware entity that arises due to extremely rare random fluctuations out of a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. [...]
Fun fact: most Boltzmann brains pass out in a matter of seconds, then die, and there's nothing they can do about that.
Maybe some Boltzmann brains start out with rich fulfilling memories. And then a later (or earlier) Boltzmann brain happens to exist with a continuation of those memories. (Now I realize I'm just reciting a plot point from the excellent book Permutation City...)
Re: Timeline of the far future
#45While the topic is on. I am trying to find a short story I read some years ago (4-5) about the evolution of life on our planet in the far future. Warning, massive spoilers: There are like 5 or 6 mass extinction events followed by a new civilization each time built by a different specie. At some points a raven civilization goes on the moon (they always had an innate tendency to go higher) and find an old rover, then i…
That sounds fascinating; try https://old.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/
Re: Timeline of the far future
#46While the topic is on. I am trying to find a short story I read some years ago (4-5) about the evolution of life on our planet in the far future. Warning, massive spoilers: There are like 5 or 6 mass extinction events followed by a new civilization each time built by a different specie. At some points a raven civilization goes on the moon (they always had an innate tendency to go higher) and find an old rover, then i…
Maybe Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon.
It's a good book to check off the list but it is stylistically tedious.
Re: Timeline of the far future
#47The further I read, the smaller I feel.
The further I read, the smaller some of the issues we face today seem. I could spend my life fighting to prevent global warming or fix the world, but this list just makes me want to enjoy the time I have here with my loved ones... I don't know how I feel about these feelings.
Maybe try to make room for both? Life can have purpose without consisting solely of it.
They are even connected. Making the world incrementally better now will impact the lives that your loved ones and their loved ones are able to lead.
Re: Timeline of the far future
#48Fascinating: "10^(10^50) years: Estimated time for a Boltzmann brain to appear in the vacuum via a spontaneous entropy decrease." [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain > [...] a Boltzmann brain is a self-aware entity that arises due to extremely rare random fluctuations out of a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. [...]
Now calculate the probability of the current Universe arising spontaneously from vacuum.
it's there at the bottom: 10^10^10^56
"Around this vast timeframe, quantum tunnelling in any isolated patch of the vacuum could generate, via inflation, new Big Bangs giving birth to new universes [...] this is also the time required for a quantum-tunnelled and quantum fluctuation-generated Big Bang to produce a new universe identical to our own, assuming that every new universe contained at least the same number of subatomic particles and obeyed laws of physics within the range predicted by string theory."
Re: Timeline of the far future
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
1
This feels anecdotal rather than an actual calculation.
Assuming that time moves forward, probability of all events that have already happened is 1. Probability of all events that could have happened, but did not 0. There is an interesting parallel that could be made to quantum states collapsing.
Given that the question asks about 'current' universe arising spontaneously from vacuum the probability is 1 because that has already happened.
The more interesting question, what is the probability of a new universe similar to our own arising. To the best of our knowledge (which for this type of extrapolation is admittedly flimsy) this is also 1, this just takes a very long time. The expected time it would take (10^10^10^56) is specified on the last row on the "Future of the Earth, the Solar System and the Universe" table.
Re: Timeline of the far future
#50> The length of the day used for astronomical timekeeping reaches about 86,401 SI seconds. Under the present-day timekeeping system, either a leap second would need to be added to the clock every single day, or else by then, in order to compensate, the length of the day would have had to have been officially lengthened by one SI second. Can you just imagine the amount of legacy code with DAY_SECONDS=86400 out there 5…
It will be easier to boost the Earth’s spin back to a 86,400-second day than to fix all the code.
I don’t care if this goes against HN guideline and if I am downvoted, but that was the geekiest joke of the millennia :D