When all of its energy is evenly spread out, the universe will have arrived
at what physicists refer to as a state of thermal equilibrium, a rather
dreary outcome that is glibly characterized as heat death. It
is called this because energy in a state of equilibrium is not able to
do anything. Why? Because energy that is all evened out has no high and
low spots.
A rock can roll down a hill because ... well, it's on top of
the hill. If it were not on top of the hill it could not roll down.
A rock can roll down a hill because there is a difference between
the top of the hill and the bottom. If there were no difference, nothing
would happen. The rock would not be able to roll (or anything else for
that matter). It would just sit there.
This is similar to what is going to happen when all of the universe's
energy is evenly spread out. There will be virtually no differences, no
hills and valleys.
Human culture is headed in pretty much the same direction.
The vehicle that is taking us to our heat death is called cultural diversity,
or multiculturalism.
In the past, superior cultures always overwhelmed inferior ones, either
destroying or enslaving them. Cosmologically, this is the way it should
be. I say this with the full awareness that there is no such thing as
should in the realm of the cosmological. The universe is what
it is. If we could explore every square inch of it I fully doubt that
we would find so much as a single smidgen of should or ought.
There is of course the argument that the human condition is also what
it is, and currently what it is is a dynamic that is heading
in the direction of perfect equality, what we might call social (i.e.
political and economic) equilibrium, a state of affairs in which there
will be no differences (at least virtually none). When there are no differences,
nothing can happen, whether it's in the cosmos or the arena of human affairs.
Already we hear much talk of dummying down. A Master's Degree (or a Phd),
for example, doesn't mean what it used to. Nowadays nearly anyone can
get them. The very phrase "dummying down" suggests differences,
specifically differences in personal ability. The holder of an MA or Phd
used to be regarded us "up there" intellectually and/or academically,
which of course carried with it the implication that everyone else was
"down here", suggesting a very real contrast. With every passing
year these distinctions are less significant.
Where is everything headed? To a state of utter dreariness. T.S. Eliot
was right. The world does not end with a bang, but a whimper, a very dreary
whimper.
Predicting the Future
The End of the World
Unseen World
Without a Trace
Enough Atoms
Where Did Everything Come From?
