"Going all the way back to ancient times - sometimes attributed to Persia, other times to King Solomon, and still at other times to far eastern sources - one of the most important reminders of the transient nature of all things, good and bad, is encapsulated in the simple saying, "this too shall pass." Both joy and sorrow are temporary, as is life itself."
"But has science truly learned enough to declare what the nature of our ultimate cosmic demise will be? Can we speak confidently about when that demise will occur? And is there wiggle room for an alternative outcome; is what we think we know today only provisional, and what sort of evidence could change our minds? That's what Kyle Brewer wants to know, writing in to succinctly ask:"
Cosmic fate depends on the Universe's expansion rate and its energy content, especially dark energy. Observations indicate ongoing accelerated expansion consistent with a cosmological constant, which leads to heat death: galaxies recede beyond causal contact, star formation ceases, black holes evaporate, and the Universe approaches maximum entropy. Alternative outcomes remain viable if dark energy evolves (Big Rip from phantom energy), if the Universe's geometry and matter density produce a recollapse (Big Crunch), or if a lower-energy vacuum decay occurs. Upcoming precise measurements of expansion history and dark energy properties could distinguish among these scenarios and alter the predicted timeline.
Read at Big Think
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