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Blogger Kenny Pearce is developing a bibliography of works of science fiction that are particularly noteworthy for expressing a philosophical worldview or premise. He presents several categories, such as Mind, Solipsism, and Sex and Gender. Some of the stories that he lists are available online, like Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question” — a confrontation with entropy.
Pearce asks readers for suggestions. What would you add to the list?
Link | The Last Question | Image: NIH
The entropy of the universe may be 100 times worse than expected. Ron Cowen writes in Science News that recent research suggests that the universe will degrade faster physicists had previously thought:
An analysis by Chas Egan of the Australian National University in Canberra and Charles Lineweaver of the University of New South Wales in Sydney indicates that the collective entropy of all the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies is about 100 times higher than previously calculated. Because supermassive black holes are the largest contributor to cosmic entropy, the finding suggests that the entropy of the universe is also about 100 times larger than previous estimates, the researchers reported online September 23 at arXiv.org.[...]
In the case of the universe, Egan says, “we’d like to know [when and] if the entropy will eventually reach a maximum value, marking the end of all dissipative processes, including life.” Physicists have dubbed that maximum entropy “heat death.”
I know nothing about physics, therefore I propose that people take alarmist, unjustified responses to this disastrous news.
Link via Gizmodo | Image: NASA
