[Marxism] End of the universe?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

(Michio Kaku is a CUNY physics professor with Marxist politics.)

Prospect, February 2005
Escape from the universe

The universe is destined to end. Before it does, could an advanced 
civilisation escape via a "wormhole" into a parallel universe? The idea 
seems like science fiction, but it is consistent with the laws of physics 
and biology. Here's how to do it

Michio Kaku

The author is professor of theoretical physics at City University of New 
York. This article is adapted from his book "Parallel Worlds" (Allen Lane)

The universe is out of control, in a runaway acceleration. Eventually all 
intelligent life will face the final doom?the big freeze. An advanced 
civilisation must embark on the ultimate journey: fleeing to a parallel 
universe.

In Norse mythology, Ragnarok?the fate of the gods?begins when the earth is 
caught in the vice-like grip of a bone-chilling freeze. The heavens 
themselves freeze over, as the gods perish in great battles with evil 
serpents and murderous wolves. Eternal darkness settles over the bleak, 
frozen land as the sun and moon are both devoured. Odin, the father of all 
gods, finally falls to his death, and time itself comes to a halt.

Does this ancient tale foretell our future? Ever since the work of Edwin 
Hubble in the 1920s, scientists have known that the universe is expanding, 
but most have believed that the expansion was slowing as the universe aged. 
In 1998, astronomers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the 
Australian National University calculated the expansion rate by studying 
dozens of powerful supernova explosions within distant galaxies, which can 
light up the entire universe. They could not believe their own data. Some 
unknown force was pushing the galaxies apart, causing the expansion of the 
universe to accelerate. Brian Schmidt, one of the group leaders, said, "I 
was still shaking my head, but we had checked everything? I was very 
reluctant to tell people, because I truly thought that we were going to get 
massacred."

Physicists went scrambling back to their blackboards and realised that some 
"dark energy" of unknown origin, akin to Einstein's "cosmological 
constant," was acting as an anti-gravity force. Apparently, empty space 
itself contains enough repulsive dark energy to blow the universe apart. 
The more the universe expands, the more dark energy there is to make it 
expand even faster, leading to an exponential runaway mode.

full: http://prospectmagazine.co.uk/article_details.php.6701.html


Louis Proyect
Marxism list: www.marxmail.org 


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