Raphael Thys
The universe began one day and one day it will end.
The Big Crunch is a mirror of the Big Bang. An explosion of impossible magnitude birthed the universe and, according to this idea, it will end in an equally ineffable implosion — just to be reborn once again in a sort of Nietzschean eternal return.
The Big Rip is a rather dramatic event where, due to the progressive expansion of the universe, the very fabric of space-time will break apart. First galaxies, then stars and planets, and finally atoms. All matter will turn to shreds in an astronomical festivity of intergalactic confetti that will cease once an infinite distance separates each elementary piece from all others.
The Big Freeze — my favorite — is also called the heat death. Once the universe reaches maximum entropy there won’t be enough high-quality (i.e., usable) energy for anything interesting to ever happen again. A still, inert, dark atemporal and aspatial wasteland waiting forever in perpetual silence.
These are the three endings of our universe.
Of course, it’s all hypothetical. This is the kind of uncertain conjecture scientists like to engage in to make sense of the world around us. We ignore which one — if any — will eventually take place.
Accordingly, physicists and astronomers show intellectual humility: They embrace the unknown, apparent in that there’s no consensus. Those Big Nightmares all theoretically fit the picture that the knowledge we currently possess paints of our destiny.
So it’s rather paradoxical to think that we know not enough about our universe to know exactly how it will end — and we accept it — yet some people believe they know, with a certainty reflected in their claims, that AI will wipe us all out.
This article is a selection from The Algorithmic Bridge, an educational newsletter whose purpose is to bridge the gap between AI, algorithms, and people. It will help you understand the impact AI has in your life and develop the tools to better navigate the future.