The Five Ages of the Universe

At this time in history where we aim to conquer Mars and we want to stop aging, so that our species lasts and we could live forever; I remember the book of “The Five Eras of the Universe” by Fred Adams and Gregory P. Laughlin.

This book divides the history of the universe in 5 ages: Primordial Era (from the Big Bang to the creation of the stars), Stelliferous Era (the era in which we live), and the Degenerate, Black Hole and Dark Eras that are the three final stages remain until the unstoppeable death of the universe. Everything that is said in the book are speculations, possible futures calculated with the scientific knowledge we have today. But in one way or another (Milky Way crashing with Andromeda or the Big Freeze), sooner or later (within 10 ^ 100 years or 10 ^ 2500 years), everything will end up extinguishing.

I leave you with two videos, one in English byCrash Course and another in Spanish by Miguel Santander (Astrophysicist and writer) of Naukas Coruña 2017. They both tell in a very didactic and visual way, the 5 ages of the universe.

There is also a beautiful installation / art work by Rachel Sussman, in which with humor and a lot of research work, she draws a timeline of the history of the universe, from its creation to its end: “A selected history of the space-time continuum”.

Of course, this does not have to give us a cosmic depression but the opposite, to value that we are alive right now and we have to enjoy life, and that we put in context our own existence and terms like immortality.

#365daysof #futurism #innovation #science #universe #day20