From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Sat Jul 28 2001 - 12:38:14 MDT
>> Insofar as we can say anything about the future behavior of the
universe,
>> the big crunch seems to be an increasingly outside bet. Long,
>> cold, dark and
>> isotropic is the current forerunner...
>
> As you did note-its merely the current forerunner, on the other
> hand, other
> astronomers and cosmologists have come to see an accelerated
> expansion as a
> fairly recent thing. There is also counter theories, based on the same
> observations that suggest frequent expansions and partial collapses.
> Physicist Larry Krauss at Case Western University has suggested
> that we'll
> never know the fate of the universe. Baring that, I tend to agree with
> Kurzweil, that the fate of the universe will be decided, not by the weak
> nuclear force, the strong force, electromagnetism, or even
> gravity, but by
> intelligence; in which the other four forces crumble in the face of.
Quite possibly true, although it'd be much harder in some cosmologies than
in others -- there doesn't seem to be all that much literature on the
cosmological equivelant of landscaping and architecture. The big questions
would seem to be how to engineer energy differentials and what to do about
the decay of fundamental particles. Tipler goes into that in fair detail for
the big crunch model.
Reason
http://www.exratio.com/
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