What is a creepy or weird fact that would scare even the bravest person? - eviltoast
  • Transient Punk@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    There is a possibility that the Higgs field isn’t at it’s lowest energy state, and that a random quantum tunneling event could drag the Higgs field to that lower state. In this unsettling scenario, a bubble pops into existence somewhere in the universe. Inside the bubble, the laws of physics are wildly different than they are outside the bubble. The bubble expands at the speed of light, eventually taking over the entire universe. Galaxies drift apart, atoms can’t hold themselves together, and the ways that particles interact are fundamentally changed. Whatever form the universe takes after this event certainly wouldn’t be hospitable for humans.

    • Frozengyro@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      As old and massive as the universe is, if it could have happened, it likely would have already.

      • reinei@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        And that’s the thing:

        Assuming it did, you couldn’t see it approach until it hit you because it’s moving at the speed of light! It could also have happened, but just super far away such that it will never reach us due to expansion between its origin point and us being faster than c!

        Also just because the universe is frickin old doesn’t mean it is statistically bound to have happened. There are plenty of ways of making it even more astronomically unlikely but still possible…

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        7 days ago

        Basically, as big and old as the universe is, it’s easy to pick an even bigger number for the expected recurrence of a vacuum decay. So, it’s still possible.

    • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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      7 days ago

      Sounds like a great way to reboot the DC or Marvel universe. How probable is this bubble bursts and affects us before we fuck up our environment for good? Would we be able to know if it already happened somewhere far from us? Like, “we have 5 years, that’s all we’ve got”.

    • Sertou@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Yeah, I can’t work up much existential dread at this prospect. Given the immensity of the universe, the odds of this happening anywhere that it will affect the human race anytime soon are pretty damn slim.

    • chaosCruiser@futurology.today
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      7 days ago

      Will there be infinite expansion or will the big bang eventually get reversed in to a big crunch? This question might not even be relevant if this bubble phenomenon rips the entire universe apart. What if such a bubble already exists beyond the horizon and will devour our galaxy in a billion years.

      • Transient Punk@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        We have no way to know what the resultant physics would be like within the bubble, so there is no way to even speculate about what would happen.

        • chaosCruiser@futurology.today
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          6 days ago

          Exciting times ahead. Who knows what will happen… if anything at all. It’s also entirely possible that nothing special is going on or ever will be.

    • Kairos@lemmy.today
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      5 days ago

      Just FYI this hasn’t happened for at least several billion years so it’s not likely to happen in the next 100.

      Edit: Why the downvotes lol

      • el_abuelo@programming.dev
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        6 days ago

        Has it not? Are you sure the bubble isn’t just 1 light second away? Anything travelling towards you at the speed of light is not perceptible until it hits you. This is why the ability to accelerate something to FTL speeds would be an unstoppable super weapon and most likely lead to interstellar species destroying one another until only 1 remains. Or at least that’s my take.