Mindscape 70 | Katie Mack on How the Universe Will End

Cosmologists are always talking excitedly about the Big Bang and all the cool stuff that happened in the 14 billion years between then and now. But what about the future? We don’t know for sure, but we know enough about the laws of physics to sketch out several plausible scenarios for what the future of our universe will hold. Katie Mack is a cosmologist who is writing a book about the end of the universe. We talk about the possibilities of a Big Crunch (and potential Big Bounce), a gentle cooling off where the universe gradually grows silent, and of course the prospect of a dramatic phase transition, otherwise known as the “bubble of quantum death.” Which would make a great name for a band, I think we can all agree.

Katherine (Katie) Mack received her Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. She is currently an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University, where her research centers on theoretical cosmology, including dark matter and black holes. She is also a member of NCSU’s Leadership in Public Science Cluster. Her upcoming book, The End of Everything, will be published in 2020.

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It gives me great comfort that it all comes to a cold dark end

[KILLERK]

Always look forward to weekly mindscape episodes. Thank you Sean and all your guests. Yeah Yeah Yeah!

[hv]

Exploring vast topics most profound

Awe inspiring intellectual rush

Whence a jarring moment of dissonance

Sean Carroll’s selling me a toothbrush

[batmanwayne]

Great episode. Is there video of the session??? It'd be fun if we could have the video and not just audio

[mikethek]

Fascinating. One of Mr. Carroll's most interesting interviews.
Suns catch fire, heat death, quantum tunneling, so many ways for the universe to end. On that subject: Arthur C. Clark's (very) short story, 'let there be light' is recommended.

[robertglass]

Nice episode. All things I've heard before, but discussed with a little more depth and clarity to add up to a solid outline of the past and future possibilities of the universe.

[theonetruemorty]

Is an infinite prison still a prison?
Some recursions are echoes without delay.
A loose thread nestled in fibration,
Unexpectedly showed me the way.

[allnorweiganwood]

Excellent video made on this by melodysheep. A search for Timelapse of the universe should find it. Very much worth the watch. Again. And again. And again

[rumidude]

Really good stuff that I had not read about before. Thanks!

[Biskawow]

What about boltzman brain+observer event? (Heat death part of the podcast)

[Smoogems_]

I love this kind of shit before I nod off. Tis' the good shit.

[amirshahnazar]

Probably the most depressing podcast in the history of podcasts. At the same time it is also very liberating. Thank you Sean and Katie

[mothernature]

probably one of the best podcasts out there

[RodrigoOshiro]

cool podcast, i think murphy’s law also applies to the universe. it happened once, and here we are... it may end, but then, something else like this may happen again, i guess... im not sure if there is a forever because if this universe happened its probably not unique.

[eddieking]

I've always said in a hundred years what will it matter. This takes that saying to a whole nother level.🤪

[lyleman]

In a "Big Crunch" scenario, will space itself shrink or will it just be that the stuff gets closer together?

[PavlosPapageorgiou]

Sean, what boggles me is how cosmologists say this happened so many seconds after the Big Bang. What time reference do we have that stays constant and accurate over that range?

[shaun]

Due to an expanding universe, Long before the end, very distant future, civilisations will look into the nights sky and see nothing outside there respective galaxies. We are in a unique time.

[Userx]

Won't elementary particles still be around? So it's not empty space?

[Einyen]

It is fun she says "if this is true, we can calculate a date (for the end)". But considering the error bars on these measurements, I'm sure the error on that "date" is going to be a few trillion years, at least.