Indeed, if the accelerated expansion does not slow, there will come a time when thought takes its final bow. Our understanding is too coarse to make a precise prediction, but putting rough numbers into the equations suggests this could happen within the next 1050 years. A big unknown, as we noted at the outset, is whether intelligent life will be able to intercede in the cosmic unfolding, perhaps affecting the evolution of stars and galaxies, mining unanticipated sources of high-quality energy, or even controlling the rate of spatial expansion. Because of the complexity of intelligence, it is
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