Just a Theory

Trans rights are human rights

Posts about Science

Time is Short, So Be Generous

Supermassive Black Hole

Image: ESO/R.Genzel and S.Gillessen

This video, Timelapse of the Future, has kept me thinking ever since Kottke posted it a few weeks ago. Given current knowledge, the expectation is that the universe will go on forever, but thanks to entropy and expansion, it will eventually be full of, well, nothing at all. This rather limits the time hospitable to life. This arresting quotation from Brian Cox starting at the 12:55 mark captures it:

As a fraction of the lifespan of the universe, as measured from its beginning to the evaporation of the last black hole, life, as we know it, is only possible for one thousandth of a billion billon billonth, billion billon billonth, billion billon billonth of a percent.

That’s:

.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001%

Boy howdy our time is limited. We should make the best of it, to let our brief time be as pleasant, happy, and fulfilling as possible. All of us. Be kind, empathetic, compassionate, and generous with your fellow human beings. In the end, only how well we treat each other matters.

(Via kottke.org)