The 1988 Show
23
that this is the end of the cosmos, but the fact is that the story of the
universe is just beginning. In the years to come all matter will begin to
decay, even the bits of gases and heavier elements in interstellar space. A
proton holds itself together for ten trillion trillion trillion years, but after
this long “life,” even these basic bits of matter die and decompose.
Protons decay. And with protons gone, all nuclei and thus all atoms die.
Only subatomic particles of various kinds will remain, awash in a vast
cosmic void.
At this point in the cosmic story, black holes are the only
interesting and active things in the universe, truly the only things worth
mentioning. The black holes that used to sit at the center of their host
galaxies vacuum up the dead bits of matter that used to compose their
local stars, planets, and gases. These ravenous beasts wander aimlessly
throughout the ever-expanding cosmos, eventually colliding and forming
super-massive black holes. Shattered protons fall endlessly down the
rabbit hole, never reaching the bottom of a black hole. And after 1040
years, there are no more galaxies, no galactic structure at all, in the
universe. Just blackness, emptiness, and bottomless holes in spacetime.
For a long time, little changes. But even a little change is worth
noticing at this quiet point in the lifespan of the imiverse, and so it is that
Hawking radiation trickles out of each of these black holes such that over
time—over a great deal of time—each black hole eventually loses all of
its resting mass and is extinguished. Even black holes die. And thus at
the age of 1067 years old, the cosmos is filled with black holes that begin
popping out of existence in one final flash of energy and light as they spit
out the quantum-sized bits of matter that used to be in their bellies. As
they do, the regurgitated matter they emit is so small (with
accompanying miniscule gravitational fields) and the universe is so large
(having expanded and expanded), that the pieces of dead matter do not
have the opportunity to interact with each other. Eventually, they grow
cold, slow down, and have no effect on anything.
It is at this point, some 10,000 years from now, that it is truly all
over. Nothing moves, nothing does anything, nothing changes. Time
itself stops and the cosmos is utterly and finally dead. And black holes,
suns, planets, life of all kinds, species, you, me, Richard Feynman,
George Michael, Patrick Swayze, and all the rest played such a minor
role in this story that it is barely worth mentioning any of us were ever
here. The main character in the narrative all along was only change itself
And when it stops, there is nothing left to be said and no significance to
be found in anything.