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Amaris
Guest
What I mean is that everything you do will happen and has already happened.
Inevitable Death of the Universe Disturbs Me Greatly
- Thread starter polyharmonic
- Start date
Nah babe. Don't believe it.
Two bored high school kids sat in the back row of science class. One of them kept dozing off as the teacher talked. Then he woke up with a start and asked his friend:
"What did he just say?"
"He said that in about five billion years the sun will expand and wipe out life on Earth."
"Whew, what a relief! I thought he said five million!"
"What did he just say?"
"He said that in about five billion years the sun will expand and wipe out life on Earth."
"Whew, what a relief! I thought he said five million!"
Who knows? Maybe it's an eternal hoot?
In the beginning, there was nothing. In the end, there will be nothing.
But a wise starship captain once said, "...cherish every moment--because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived."
Make the most of the time you have.
But a wise starship captain once said, "...cherish every moment--because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived."
Make the most of the time you have.
This leads into the point I was going to make: if the OP isn't worried about the expansion of the Sun killing us all (presumably because we'll have found a way to survive it by then), then there's no need to worry about the end of the universe, either. Presumably we'll have found a way to travel to other universes by then (and we're reasonably sure those exist).
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Amaris
Guest
While I get the rationale behind pithy sayings like that (and this isn't directed at you at all, C.E.), it leaves out the often important detail that usually people can't spare the time or resources to actually make the most of the time they have. They are often overworked, overstressed, under-rested, underpaid, and denied basic caveats that the more affluent are capable of obtaining. There's this notion that, in magazines, and on TV, that a spa day will fix things right up, or take that weekend trip to the beach! Go to the lake and get away for a while! Well, most people simply can't do that. TV has made this reality for poor people that simply does not exist. Poor people can't afford to go to the lake, or have a spa day, they can't just up and leave for the weekend, or indulge in a little retail therapy, because they're trying to decide how much medicine they can do without in order to afford eating dinner tomorrow. They're working extra hours because the tire on their car has blown, and a replacement is $40 more than they have in the bank.
Life is suffering, hardship, and endless obligation for so many people, and that is the most they'll ever really make of it.
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That's a defeatist mentality. If misery is all one thinks about, then misery is all they will have. Reality will crush anyone if they let it. The key is making the most of life in spite of it. For some, it's not about what they don't have, but what they do have. And even if it's nothing more than enjoying occasional moments of peace in an otherwise hard life, those can be worth more than gold.
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Amaris
Guest
It's a "lived it for 36 years" mentality.
At heart, I am still an optimist, but I cannot deny the reality in which I live, and have lived my entire life, and will continue to live whether I want it this way or not. You can say the few moments of peace are worth more than gold, but are they really? There comes a point where the moments of peace aren't for relaxation or contemplation, but are instead used to prepare oneself for the next onslaught. The waves just crash on shore, the sand castle is destroyed over and over and over again, there simply is no time to take a break and gather one's wits, because the next wave is coming, and when it bears down, it will not wait for you to gather yourself. You must already be prepared for it, otherwise it will wash all you have left out to sea.
^ *long pause* So, how 'bout them Falcons, huh? 
The thing about an individual dying is that there are new people being born to replace you. You die but life goes on. You are not the last living person on Earth before dying.
As for the Sun dying and burning up the Earth, I would like to think there would still be other Stars and Planets in the massive Universe where life would still goes on.
But once the Universe itself dies, it dies forever. The Universe won't be reborn, rather it will reach a state of maximum entropy and temperature equilibrium everywhere and where all Stars are extinguished as hydrogen has run out.
It might not happen for trillions of years but we are slowly marching second by second to the point where the Universe will be a cold, dark, lifeless place.
If you think about it, you can see how disturbing it is. But scientific consensus is that it is true and inevitable. So there is zero hope that the Universe's death can be averted.
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Amaris
Guest
Well, I feel for the universe, I really do, but for me, the universe ends when I do. Any legacy I want to leave, any impact I can make, it all has to be done while I'm alive, because dead men do not create, or dream, they only succumb to that same entropy. Death is the ultimate order of the universe. It is sad, I agree. To be fair, though, the heat death of the universe is not a guaranteed end. It is one of several plausible scenarios, ones that may be flawed because while science is a powerful tool, it is limited by our experiences and our ability to comprehend what we learn from it. That's about all the optimism I can muster on that one. :P
But I believe the current theory is that there are multiple universes - not just at various quantum probability states here, but actually "out there", beyond our universe, other universes like soap bubbles in the great in-between. With more forming all the time. That's why I'm saying that it might be possible for humanity to survive our universe. IF we can figure out how to survive our star's expansion, which we have a long, long time to figure out assuming we don't do ourselves in first, then maybe we can figure out how to move to ever younger other universes - and we'll have a much longer time to figure out how to do that.
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Amaris
Guest
We'll need to solve a few things before get there. In a billion years, the Sun will be large enough to negatively affect the earth's atmosphere, raising temperatures to the point where life as we know it would not survive here. Of course, within the next 1.5 (roughly) million years, another star will pass within about a light year of our solar system, and perturb the Oort cloud, likely giving us that extinction level event we were all looking for November 8th.
I've lived it for 45 years, and it hasn't broken me. I've known loss and despair, and yet I continued to appreciate what I have more than what I didn't.
Yes, they definitely are. I personally live for those moments.
Life was never said to be easy. Heck, you can't even get out of life alive. It is a constant struggle with a never-ending series of ups and downs. Some people have a much easier life than others, while some have a life that is nothing short of tragic. Others still are so focused on what's wrong in their lives that they can't see what's right in their lives. They just can't see it, even if it's constantly in front of them. As bad as you think your problems are, it's a definite guarantee that there are people out there who have it many times worse. It's best to be thankful for what you have, even if it isn't much.
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Amaris
Guest
That may be. Then again, I may find out before I turn 37. Who knows?
Life hasn't been easy for me, permanent health problems, money always has been tight and so on but still, I'm alive and there are here and there things that make the whole thing acceptable.
The Japanese have a word for it, しょうがない (Shoganai) which literally means "It can't be helped" but it means more, living there you can have your whole life be destroyed in a few minutes, like a few years ago, but they just accept it and move on, rebuild everything despite knowing that maybe in a few years another dissaster will come and destroy everything again.
The Japanese have a word for it, しょうがない (Shoganai) which literally means "It can't be helped" but it means more, living there you can have your whole life be destroyed in a few minutes, like a few years ago, but they just accept it and move on, rebuild everything despite knowing that maybe in a few years another dissaster will come and destroy everything again.
