This the way the world ends

Barrow and Tipler argue that in a very special type of closed universe this might not be true. They have formalized Dyson's basic idea into what they call the Final Anthropic Principle (DISCOVER, May). This principle says that at the instant of Big Crunch, life will have arisen not only in this universe but in all possible universes, that it will know everything that it's possible to know, and thus will have become godlike and effectively have transcended time, despite its apparent demise.

A perversely optimistic apocalypse. And so, with an immortal smile at the Crunch of all Crunches, it's best to stop, for things have clearly gone out of sight.

COPYRIGHT 1987 Discover
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group