Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe

by Roger Penrose

When the universe enters this apparently final stage—what one might well call the ‘very boring era’—nothing of great interest seems to be left for it to do. The most exciting events prior to this were the final ‘pops’ of the last tiny remnants of black holes, eventually disappearing (it is supposed) after they had very gradually lost all their mass via the painfully slow process of Hawking radiation. One is left with the dreadful thought of a seemingly interminable boredom confronting the final stages of our great universe—a universe which would have once seemed so exciting, teeming with fascinating activity of hugely different kinds—most of this activity occurring within beautiful galaxies, with a wonderful variety of stars and often attendant planets, among which would be those supporting life of some kind, with its exotic plants and animals, some of whom having the capabilities of deep knowledge and understanding, and profound capabilities of artistic creation. Yet all this will eventually die away. The final dregs of excitement will have to be the waiting, and the waiting, and waiting, for maybe 10100 years or more, for that final pop—perhaps of about the violence of a small artillery shell followed by nothing but further exponential expansion, thinning it out and cooling and emptying and cooling, and thinning out … until eternity. Does that picture present all that our universe has ultimately in store for it? But after I had been depressing myself with such thoughts, ...