End of universe theories (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, July 03, 2015, 17:04 (3430 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Big Rip vs. Big Freeze:-http://phys.org/news/2015-06-cosmic-stickiness-favors-big-rip.html-DAVID: Comment: This article anticipates a definite end, nothing cyclical. It describes a universe that has a definite beginning and a definite end. This means a new universe will have to have a new creation.-Dhw: Great balls of fire, folks, I predict that in just 100 years' time there will be what we experts call the “Big Oops”. Someone will realize that there have been some almighty blunders in current calculations and observations, and the universe is just going to go on doing what it's always done - pumping things out, sucking things in, building and demolishing for ever and ever, amen. Please can I have a grant? -DAVID: No. You forget that space may be concave or convex or flat. Every evidence for the past 50 years says flat, we get either rip or cold, unless the evidence has a drastic change, which I do not expect.-Dhw: Yea verily, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness... I prophesy that in 100 years current beliefs will be laughed at, but you know I'm wrong because other beliefs would contradict current beliefs. Yep. But I'm mightily impressed by your grasp of what will happen in 22 billion years, or 100 trillion years. I'd like to perfect my own theory about what will happen in 100 quadrillion years, so can I please rely on your support for my grant application?-DAVID: You've neatly skipped over my comment that a new creation will be required.
-Even if I believed that the universe had a definite beginning, and even if I believed that the universe would have a definite end, that still wouldn't mean that it was deliberately and consciously created by a mind that never had a beginning and presumably will never have an end. Nor would it mean that a new creation would be required. Required by what? -Meanwhile, you've neatly skipped over my complaint that you know my prophecy is wrong because it contradicts current beliefs which I have prophesied will be found to be wrong.