this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 month ago (9 children)

There is a possibility that the Higgs field isn't at it's lowest energy state, and that a random quantum tunneling event could drag the Higgs field to that lower state. In this unsettling scenario, a bubble pops into existence somewhere in the universe. Inside the bubble, the laws of physics are wildly different than they are outside the bubble. The bubble expands at the speed of light, eventually taking over the entire universe. Galaxies drift apart, atoms can’t hold themselves together, and the ways that particles interact are fundamentally changed. Whatever form the universe takes after this event certainly wouldn’t be hospitable for humans.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So spontaneous instant death. Not scarier than an aneurysm.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

This is know as "False Vacuum (Decay)". Kurzgesagt made a video about it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Also romanticised in the famous novel The Neverending Story.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

As old and massive as the universe is, if it could have happened, it likely would have already.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And that's the thing:

Assuming it did, you couldn't see it approach until it hit you because it's moving at the speed of light! It could also have happened, but just super far away such that it will never reach us due to expansion between its origin point and us being faster than c!

Also just because the universe is frickin old doesn't mean it is statistically bound to have happened. There are plenty of ways of making it even more astronomically unlikely but still possible...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That makes sense, I was thinking we would see it coming, but definitely not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, so if I don't see it coming, I'm not scared.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

"Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?"

- Epicurus

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Basically, as big and old as the universe is, it's easy to pick an even bigger number for the expected recurrence of a vacuum decay. So, it's still possible.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Really looking forward to the Spacetime episode on this one if it doesn't exist yet.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Sounds like a great way to reboot the DC or Marvel universe. How probable is this bubble bursts and affects us before we fuck up our environment for good? Would we be able to know if it already happened somewhere far from us? Like, "we have 5 years, that's all we've got".

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Since the bubble travels at the speed of light, no, there's no way to know. It could be an hour away from us right now and we wouldn't even see it hit us, we'd just evaporate from existence nearly instantaneously.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The bosses from my 3 part time jobs would be very disappointed I left them short staffed.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Are you sure you can't come in anyway? Janice didn't turn up either and we're really stretched.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Somehow, that's comforting to me. And hey, it's been almost a day and we are still around.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Don't jinx it ;)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

It’s that effing Peter Parker again. No matter how good the wizard, you can’t keep interrupting while he is trying to change memories across the entire multiverse

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest and a queer threw up at the sight of that

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I thought that was a reference to Bowie's "Five Years", pardon me

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Yeah, I can't work up much existential dread at this prospect. Given the immensity of the universe, the odds of this happening anywhere that it will affect the human race anytime soon are pretty damn slim.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Will there be infinite expansion or will the big bang eventually get reversed in to a big crunch? This question might not even be relevant if this bubble phenomenon rips the entire universe apart. What if such a bubble already exists beyond the horizon and will devour our galaxy in a billion years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We have no way to know what the resultant physics would be like within the bubble, so there is no way to even speculate about what would happen.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Exciting times ahead. Who knows what will happen… if anything at all. It’s also entirely possible that nothing special is going on or ever will be.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

there's a fun novel by Greg Egan exploring this idea, except at half of speed of light for narrative purposes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schild%27s_Ladder

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Just FYI this hasn't happened for at least several billion years so it's not likely to happen in the next 100.

Edit: Why the downvotes lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Has it not? Are you sure the bubble isn't just 1 light second away? Anything travelling towards you at the speed of light is not perceptible until it hits you. This is why the ability to accelerate something to FTL speeds would be an unstoppable super weapon and most likely lead to interstellar species destroying one another until only 1 remains. Or at least that's my take.