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From: flink@umcp-cs.UUCP (Paul V. Torek)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re: end of the universe
Message-ID: <1341@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Aug-85 20:04:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1341
Posted: Thu Aug 22 20:04:45 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Aug-85 02:19:08 EDT
References: <281@ecsvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: flink@maryland.UUCP (Paul V. Torek)
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 35
Summary: ... may never come, as far as we know.

In article <281@ecsvax.UUCP> dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (D Gary Grady) writes:
>This should appeal to fans of Olaf Stapledon.  I note that in any of the
>scenarios described (flat, open, or closed) the Universe ends with a
>bang or a whimper, but it does end, and there is no serious prospect for
>the survival of matter.  This clearly has negative implications for the
>longterm performance of most stocks.

Another interesting twist, however, can be found in a 198(4?) *Science*
article with a title including the word "Entropy" (so you can look it
up in the Reader's Guide to Periodicals).  It seems that in a "critical"
(what D Gary Grady calls a "flat") universe, if black holes form not
only on a galactic cluster level but on ever-larger scales, there could
be no limit to the increase of entropy in the universe.  That is,

	infinity
	 /
	|  dS/dt    =   infinity.
       /
     t = now

Freeman Dyson says that the correctness of the above equation is the 
only precondition for the never-ending continuation of life in the
universe; given a "sufficiently resourceful intelligence".  Civilization
woould live off the Hawking radiation emitted from black holes.  
Unfortunately, the author of the *Science* article points out, life forms
based on our sort of matter could not pull this trick.  However, radically
different life forms might:  the author suggests that life based on
electron-positron plasma -- if such "life" might be possible -- could
endure.

The author wisely doesn't attempt to grapple with the obvious 
philosophical issues about the definition of life, etc., and neither,
at this moment, will I.

--Paul V Torek, umcp-cs!flink