Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity

Lecture 47: The Next Millennium and the Remote Future

objects will increase, and temperature differentials will narrow. With smaller

energy differentials to drive complexity, the Universe will become simpler

and more boring. The second law of thermodynamics will have triumphed

over complexity. The Universe will continue to get more uninteresting for as

many billions of years as there are sand grains on all the beaches and deserts

of the Earth. And so on, forever and ever.

Where does that leave us? What is our place in this huge story? The last

lecture will recapitulate the story of big history and touch on these large

issues of meaning. Ŷ

Christian, Maps of Time, chap. 15.

Prantzos, Our Cosmic Future.

Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Stableford and Langford, The Third Millennium.

Stearns, Millennium III, Century XXI.

Wager, A Short History of the Future.

1. Are there any reasonable predictions we can make about the next
   1,000 years?


2. What can we reasonably say about the future of the Universe?

Essential Reading

Supplementary Reading

Questions to Consider