Escape from the universe - [wild, but fun, speculations from physicist Michio Kaku]

Prospect Magazine (U.K.) ^ | February 2005 issue | Michio Kaku

[snarks_when_bored]

This is an excerpt from Kaku's latest book, Parallel Worlds. A speculative physics riff.

[snarks_when_bored]

Ping

[bd476]

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[dead]

Interesting read. Falls into the "I guess we'll never know" category, but fun.

BTW, Michio Kaku is on every single show on the Discovery Science channel. I'm starting to think they just installed cameras in his home, like Ozzy Osbourne.

[Constantine XIII]

bump

[Red Badger]

Apparently, empty space itself contains enough repulsive dark energy to blow the universe apart. The more the universe expands, the more dark energy there is to make it expand even faster, leading to an exponential runaway mode.

[martin_fierro]

In Norse mythology, Ragnarok—the fate of the gods—begins when the earth is caught in the vice-like grip of a bone-chilling freeze. The heavens themselves freeze over, as the gods perish in great battles with evil serpents and murderous wolves. Eternal darkness settles over the bleak, frozen land as the sun and moon are both devoured. Odin, the father of all gods, finally falls to his death, and time itself comes to a halt.

I love a happy ending.

[martin_fierro]

BTW, Michio Kaku is on every single show on the Discovery Science channel.

If they start having him redesign a neighbor's home (for UNDER $1000!), I'm outta here.

That goes for him building choppers and hotrods, too.

[dead]

I saw him mocking poor people with Paris and Nicole.

[RightWhale]

Just started reading his new book. He is still on book tour. It's an easy-to-read book, and so far seems to be good reporting. It is not as slick or authoratitive as Brian Green's "Fabric", but more of a piece of journalism. Kaku is not an ordinary journalist, of course, even though he did protest the Cassini of recent Titan fame, but he understands his string theory topic very well and explains very clearly. He has not learned the lessons of Korzybski and is already insane, but in a pleasant way.

[lonevoice]

Michio Kaku ping

[martin_fierro]

"SHE BANG! SHE BANG!"

[Free and Armed]

Damn

[orionblamblam]

> I love a happy ending.

Norse mythology is like that. Very profound, and, with the exception of the tacked-on Christian symbology at the end of Ragnarok (basically, it appears Snorri Sturlusson, the Christian Icelandic skald who recorded most of the myths that we know of, along with the history fo the kings of Norway and many sagas, added Christian elements such as a reborn, perfect paradisical Earth, probably in order to make the pagan tales more palatable in an era controleld by the Church), with a profound sense of Everything Ends. Even the souls of the dead end, it seems. The gods, unusual for a religion, are mortal and not only can die, but *will* die. That's why partying down was such a big thing for the Vikings...

[Michael Barnes]

for your tag line

[Tax Government]

If one believes that life and civilization arise naturally, then there is no need to take extraordinary steps to (re)create or preserve them.

[martin_fierro]

Well ... obviously.

< |:)~

[orionblamblam]

I started skimming through this, wondering where I'd heard these ideas before: then it hit me. Two weeks ago, driving to the airport at 3 AM to catch a 6 AM flight, listening to Kaku being interviewed on this very topic by... Art Bell. Bell kept going off about Shadow People or some damned thing, and Kaku seemed to be going along with it.

[jdhighness]

Sad how this faith--except based on more speculative theoretical math--is seen as more scientific than a Creator.

A major flaw in science, as I see it, is that there must not be any supernatural forces if they are judging or intelligent, but there can be supernatural forces if they are dumb. Problem is, even the Kaku's fantasies run into First Cause problems. That is even assuming the theoretical math that allows for the theory is even possibly true.

I deal with these fantasies in my website:

http://jdhighness.tripod.com

[orionblamblam]

> there is no need to take extraordinary steps to (re)create or preserve them.

How do you figure?