You know, space is vast, dark and scary, and the scariest thing about it is how little we really
understand about the whole thing. Things that can be taken as granted from a physics standpoint down
here on Earth are as nothing in the face of the quantum reality of the big black vacuum. But how
crazy is it out there? Here are ten universe theories that will keep you up at night.
10. What came before the Big Bang?
Our entire universe, such as we understand it, is a product of the Big Bang, an event that sparked
the possible creation and absolute distribution of all matter in our reality. But the real question
is, what was there before this happened? One theory suggests that before the Big Bang, there
was simply a gravitational singularity, which is a location in space-time where the gravitational
field of a body in space becomes exponential to the point of infinity. In simple terms, an
incredibly dense, infinitesimally tiny black hole. This singularity is thought to have contained all
the matter, energy, space and time that is now the universe, but compacted down
to one billionth of a pinhead, or even smaller. The theory suggests that quantum fluctuations
caused irreparable stress to the object, and thus did it explode and rapidly expand,
creating what we now call the universe. 9. What if you end up in a Black Hole?
Black Holes remain one of the most terrifying astronomical events of which we can conceive.
You might think you understand what a black hole is, but here is a definition. A black
hole is a place in space time where the gravity has become so massive that nothing can escape,
not light, not sound, not matter, not even time. They are effectively invisible too, unless they
are consuming something else, in which case all you would see is that thing swirling around the
black hole’s event horizon, its outer perimeter. Inside the blackhole, there is a point so small
you can’t imagine it. One of the pixels on your screen is, to a singularity, like the size of
earth compared to you. The intensity of this singularity and its consumption bends space time
and breaks what we call the laws of conventional physics. Some have said that blackholes could
transport you to some other region of space time, but the reality is far more chilling. In short,
the gravity on your body would stretch you in some ways and crush you in others as you were
pulled in towards the singularity. As you got further in, your body would be warped beyond
all recognition, in a process that is known as spaghettification. In short, a grizzly death.
8. Earth is destined to become Venus Earth and its neighbour Venus are quite
similar as planets go. They’re similar in size, composition and mass, with the only difference
being that while Earth supports life, Venus is mostly a volcanic desert of carbon dioxide.
You’re probably thinking this is going to be about climate change, right? Well actually,
no, because the waves of alternate climates that have affected the Earth are probably
never going to be enough to ruin its surface. However, in about a billion years from now,
the sun will become ten percent hotter, making the surface temperature of Earth almost fifty
degrees Celsius. This means that the oceans will slowly boil away and transform Earth into a big
greenhouse, just like Venus. The atmosphere would become comprised of almost entirely carbon dioxide
and the atmospheric pressure would multiply ninety-fold, making it totally impossible to
breathe, and even if you could somehow breathe it, you would have to basically swim through the
air in order to move. The clouds would become sulfuric acid, and that means you’d probably
be long dead anyway. 7. White Holes
Not just part of British sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf, a white hole is actually a real
thing. You can probably figure out what it is, but there’s a little nuance to it. In essence,
it is the opposite of a black hole, spewing matter, light and time back into the universe.
They’re called white holes, but they in fact look more or less the same as black holes, but with
one key difference. They are going in reverse. Watch some footage of a black hole, then play it
backwards, and you’ll see what a white hole is. They’re altogether much more friendly sounding
than black holes, until you realize that your corpse would be some of the
atoms being spewed out. 6. The Fermi Paradox
Enrico Fermi’s paradox demonstrates a contradiction between the consideration
of our own technical skill and the probability of alien life on other planets,
and the fact that to anybody’s knowledge, we have never actually encountered any sign of it.
The Fermi paradox calls into question our assumptions about the ease of life being possible,
since it happened to us, so it surely happened elsewhere. Either there is no other life out
there and we are significant in some accidental way, or there is a vast space graveyard out there
somewhere with all the life forms that didn’t make it listed. Either way, it’s pretty bleak.
5. The Drake Equation The Drake Equation is an attempt to
answer the question of how many extra-terrestrial civilisations there could be in the Milky Way and
beyond. It all started as a way of answering the question the Fermi Paradox put out,
of why we hadn’t encountered any aliens since we have the ability to launch probes and visit our
own moon. Where N is the number civilizations with detectable electronic emissions,
R is the rate of formation of stars that could allow life to exist, fp, the number of those
stars with planetary systems, ne, the number of planets in a system that could sustain life, fl,
the fraction of those planets that actually have life, fi, the fraction of that life
that is intelligent, fc, the fraction of those intelligent lifeforms that form civilizations
with enough technological understanding to emit signals into space and lastly, L,
the length of time that those civilizations exist to produce signals. Unfortunately, this is mostly
based on the opinions of the scientists using it, so we’re not really any closer to understanding.
4. The Big Rip Nothing last forever, as Guns and Roses once
wrote, and there are lots of theories about what will be the ultimate fate of our universe, but
one of the more interesting ones is the Big Rip. Scientists have theorised that, since we know the
universe is still very slowly expanding, there’s every chance that one day, not tomorrow don’t
worry, the universe will expand so much that it will literally become to come apart at the seams.
Planets, solar systems, nebulae and galaxies will dissolve into their constituent matter as
the universe tears itself apart, atom by atom, to become a pile of atomic dust so
vast that even Thanos’ body count can’t compare. Fortunately, we’re never going to see that happen.
3. Looking Back in Time Some scientists believe that
the way that we see stars, based on the relative speed of light and the distance in light years of
certain stars from our humble little planet, that we are actually seeing things as they were in the
past. This means that by the time we see a star, if the star is suitably far away from us, that we
aren’t looking at it in any approximation of its current state. The star could already be dead,
and have exploded, and by the time we realize it, it actually happened thousands of years ago.
2. The Message We Put Out Here’s an interesting thing. The first broadcast
ever created on this planet that was strong enough to make it through our atmosphere and into space
was Adolf Hitler’s opening speech at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. That means that if any aliens
ever receive it, they will assume it is 1936 and we are German. Hopefully, they stop listening and
don’t see what happened in the next few years, not just because it would be embarrassing when
they land and ask us what the heck is wrong with us, but because they’re probably also
going to be able to get our pop music too, and no one wants Cardi B representing the planet.
The Matrix It’s a bit of a clichéd concept at this point,
but the Simulation Hypothesis suggests that all life on earth and all matter in the universe could
in fact turn out to be a computer simulation. Neil DeGrasse Tyson actually discussed this matter,
saying that it’s about fifty fifty whether our entire reality is in fact just someone else
running a simulation. The fact that chimpanzees and humans are so biologically similar and yet
so different when it comes to intelligence is a major factor in this hypothesis, as is the fact
that the more we learn about the universe, the more it behaves like a computer simulation. But
which came first, the simulation or the universe? That’s the list, but what do you think about
these theories? After tapping that like button, and making sure you’re subscribed,
click on Part 2 of this Space Infinity series for more theories on the horrors of the universe.