The Five Ages of the Universe

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1. nonameiguessJul 2023
   This is arguably bad advice if you're already sad, but in any case, coping for me is all about perspective. I read a book called The Five Ages of the Universe a few weeks ago. It's pretty fascinating to see a timeline of the entire universe like this and to realize that the Stelliferous Era, the only age in which stars will exist, is so short compared to everything else that ever has or ever will happen. The universe will eventually run out of hydrogen. Black holes will evaporate. If the grand-unified theory predicting proton decay is true, baryonic matter will eventually no longer exist. Even if that one isn't true, protons will still eventually decay because of quantum tunnelling, just on much longer timescales. The accelerating expansion of the universe will eventually permanently causally disconnect whatever is left when we no longer have galaxies from everything else.

   All the things people try to save, themselves, their cultures, their religion, their species, the earth, it is all not only temporary, but barely an infinitesimal slice of nothingness, a rounding error indistinguishable from zero on any global timeline. At the same time, it's a miracle we ever got to exist at all. Enjoy what you get and stop longing for the impossible. Everything will die. Whoever or whatever you love, go love it while you still have the chance.

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2. canausJun 2022
   I'm pulling information from an introductory astronomy class, but isn't the definition of what lot of time passing is, not agreed upon?

   /The Five Ages of the Universe/ by Adams and Laughlin theorize that new stars won't stop forming until trillions (possibly hundreds of trillions) of years after the universe's inception. We're currently on years 14-15 billion. If their theories are true we'd be, arguably, one of the first instances of intelligent life in the universe.

   Now, some astronomers theorize that the universe will end in 5 - 15 billion years, so that would change the timeline substantially.

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