Stephen wrote:The fact that I don't have any control over these things is exactly the scary part. Sorry to annoy you, but a few more questions -
1. Does a really low temperature or a really high temperature like those in the LHC are related to vacuum bubbles?
2. If a bubble vacuum was formed, how long would it took for it to destroy the universe?
3. Are we absolutely sure that a vacuum bubble depends on the energy of the collision and not the pressure or the intensity?
1. In a neutron star there are temperatures of 100 billion K, scientists have reached a
temperature of 100 picokelvin, so no I don't believe it is possible to create "vacuum bubbles" with extreme temperatures.
2. I don't know, I don't believe in vacuum bubbles (read below why). But for my own sanity I simply believe that any "end of the world" scenario that can happen in my lifetime or in the next 1000 years would be instantaneous or would need such
a long time that nobody would realize it.
3. No, at least I lack the skills to disprove all this doomsday scenarios. But I do not
need absolute sureness. As often in life you have to deal with probabilities:
Tomorrow I can be hit by a car, or die from a stroke, or I can be hit by a lightning
or whatever. These things are by far more possible than any end of world type of
death. We should worry more about our environment this are the challenges for the
near future.
And one thing is for absofuckinglutely sure: In the long run we are all dead.
And this "long run" timescale is in the decades which is a joke compared to timescales
of the lifetime of our sun or the whole universe.
Why I don't believe in a "rael vacuum":
There is a thing called "first law of thermodynamics" or conservation of energy.
And it applies universally, no one has ever seen this to be violated.
So where should all the energy and mass go if there would suddenly and magically
appear a "real vacuum"?
But I must admit: This theory may be very nice to get to a new universe after this
one is "dead". Because we observe a constant inflation of our universe and there is
currently no indication that this would stop.
But before I scare you again: This happens on timescales you are not able to count
to in years, most people are not able to imagine this timescale.
So in the end, after thousand of billions of years our universe would be so cold that
no life would be possible anymore. But it would be nice to have a mechanism that
would allow a kind of starting over. A new big bang or something.
After all have been found out about our existing universe,
there will be a few remaining question: Why the hell there was a big bang, where did it
came from.
As we observe lifecycles all around in nature (it seems to be a property of matter),
why not on the whole scale?
Another, more general thought on all the thinkable armageddons:
I think that everything humans may set up in any thinkable experiment or device
has long been done somewhere in stars, supernovae, blackholes, neutron stars
or magnetars or somewhere else in the universe. There was time enough, really.
The universe even managed to create beings that can think about all this shit
and are able to play a little particle billiards.
I don't believe that humans are able to create really more extreme conditions
than there have been in 14 billion years with uncounted particles of all
possible types and unbelievable amounts of energy.
Joerg.