Did the world actually end in 2012?
Don’t you just hate long goodbyes?
Reality? No thanks
The first challenge we need to overcome is reality. We could take the philosophical view and point out that all of this could actually be a space turtle’s dream. Or, perhaps more believably, a computer simulation.
Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom’s simulation argument hypothesizes that we’re either in a simulation now, or people in the future aren’t capable of creating one.
Per his2003 paper:
But that’s too easy. If Bostrom’s been right all along, and we’re all just digital entities, then none of this really matters anyway. CTRL+ALT+DEL and restart the program, amirite?
Quantum echoes
The most widely accepted grand theory on our existence is the Big Bang theory. For whatever reason, about 14 billion years ago the universe exploded into existence from a single point.
When we think of an explosion we tend to imagine something out of a Michael Bay film. But the Big Bang was incomprehensibly big. Everything that was ever going to be in the entire universe was contained in the single point that emptied itself out to become the entire universe. That’s a lot of boom.
Scientists believe they’ve witnessed “quantum echoes” of the Big Bang by observing fluctuations in quantum fields.
Per a 2015 research paper byBlasco et al.:
It turns out that time functions fundamentally differently across the quantum and classical realms.Recent researchdemonstrates that both quantum gravity and general relativity could function in a paradigm where time itself exists as discrete chunks of “spacetime.”
In essence, this means you could zoom into the fabric of the universe so far that, likeAnt Man in the MCU films, you reached a quantum bedrock made up of individually-measurable units of spacetime.
Roll credits
Physicists are trying to wrap their head around the Big Bang because it represents the only single point in our universe’s history wherethe same thinghappened toeverythingat the same time.
Arguably, however, everything is happening to everything all the time. Scientists believe the universe isexpanding at an increasing rateas as result of the Big Bang. And that means discrete chunks of spacetime would be either tearing, displacing, or stretching.
If spacetime is malleable and fluctuates depending on the configuration of the cosmic background environment, then that means our perception of time is almost certainly distorted in comparison to the edges and origin point of the universe.
Humans, standing on Earth, witnessing the end of the universe could theoretically see it coming for billions of years before they themselves were destroyed by whatever comes after the universe’s outward expansion.
It’s theoretically possible that every time we gaze up and see the light that’s traveled for millions or billions of years, we’re watching the credits roll at the end of the universe.
Fade to black?
But that’s still not very satisfying. If we’re just waiting for a tidal wave of nothingness to envelope us all, then again: there’s no point.
And, if there’s no point, then let’s use Occam’s Razor to make things as scientifically simpleand plausibleas possible.
What if we’re able to make observations despite the fact that we no longer exist? Remember the above line about spacetime being malleable?
In a universe where time is made up of discrete chunks of malleable spacetime, the area of the universe where we live could be temporally displaced to such a degree that we’re watching the end of everything wash over us as spectators from the beyond.
Earth and the Sun and our entire galaxy could have been physically displaced (destroyed) by whatever’s ended the universe, while the wackiness ofquantum physicscould allow for the temporal displacement to simultaneously hold us in a sort ofobservation-friendly suspensionindependent of our own inexistence.
The simplest explanation is that the Big Bang only took up a micro-fraction of a second, but the displacement ofevery singlediscrete chunk of spacetime caused entire pockets of existence to erupt and observe, despite the fact that the overall consensus of discrete spacetime chunks would agree that the contents of those pockets don’t still exist.
One last mystery
All of this is interesting, but astute readers will notice that none of this explains why we’re claiming the universe ended in 2012.
Here’s what NASAhad to sayabout that:
Interesting.NASAclaims “the world didn’t end” but offers only anecdotal evidence. That sounds pretty suspicious.
Once again, at Neural we’re erring on the side of due diligence and Occam’s Razor.
It’s far easier to come up with a plausible theory on how the universe ended in 2012 than it is to explain what the hell’s been happening on Earth for the past decade.
Story byTristan Greene
Tristan is a futurist covering human-centric artificial intelligence advances, quantum computing, STEM, physics, and space stuff. Pronouns:(show all)Tristan is a futurist covering human-centric artificial intelligence advances, quantum computing, STEM, physics, and space stuff. Pronouns: He/him
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