As I was perusing Flipboard the other night, I ran across an article in the L.A. Times: Mysterious radio bursts in far parts of the universe hint at cataclysm. (Wow, I spelled "cataclysm" right on the first try. Without spellcheck.)
I ignored the article. The headline was the thing that got me thinking...
What if the universe has already started dying? What if it takes a very long time for it all to end? Would it be better to know the end is coming, or would it be better to be surprised by the end of it all?
Yes, the question is a bit twisted, but it opens up all sorts of interesting story possibilities.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
6 comments:
I appreciate your comments.
I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.
*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.
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I love a good surprise party. So I'm gonna go with "surprise me, oh universe."
ReplyDeleteI always assumed the universe will end. The sun will explode one day and long after that, the universe will get to the point where the entropy will be at maximum or it will contract again to the point of another Big Bang. Of course, it'll all happen hundreds of billions of years after humans are gone :P.
ReplyDeleteIf we knew the end was coming maybe we'd find a way to avert it or escape it.
ReplyDeleteAn existential question indeed. We know we are going to die, and even while we grow from the moment we are born, part of us is dying. Many of us don't prepare very well for our death...
ReplyDeleteIf it's unavoidable, I'd like to be surprised. I'm fairly content with how I live my life, but I'd hate to see what the "world is ending" would do to people in general.
ReplyDeleteI bet most wouldn't believe it.
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