THE GREAT FLOURISHING
I’ve always been rather envious of those people who possess a natural ability, like those with a particular facility for learning languages or a seemingly inborn musical aptitude. Unfortunately I don’t share such gifts. I suppose if I had to describe any sort of innate talent that I possess then I guess it would be my ability to see across time in the same way others see spatially.
A question that people often ask me is “Are we alone in the universe?”. To which I reply “Well there’s some life out there, but it’s nothing to write home about.. yet”.
Consider our lack of contact with extra terrestrial life less the result of the size of the universe but of its age. The universe is 13.8 billion years old, which sounds old, but the universe’s demise isn’t due for another 10,000 trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years (give or take a trillion trillion trillion years) So in the grand scheme of things we’re only really just at the very beginning of the primordial soup stage of life in the universe.
Most life in the universe hasn’t started and a million billion galaxies will be born and snuffed out of existence before it really gets going. I call this period a billion billion billion years from now The Great Flourishing in which most of the trillions of lifeforms that inhabit this particular universe, during it’s lifetime, will emerge. Of course in a billion billion billion years from now the universe will have expanded to such a mind-boggling extent that it will still be difficult for these distinct lifeforms to cross paths, but it will be a lot easier than it is now.
To illustrate this here is a chart showing the timescale of the universe, including human history, are the full extent of life contained within.
Please note that although this graph looks highly detailed it isn’t to scale as I didn’t have access to a sheet of paper that would stretch from here to the Andromeda galaxy and back 17 times.
A question that people often ask me is “Are we alone in the universe?”. To which I reply “Well there’s some life out there, but it’s nothing to write home about.. yet”.
Consider our lack of contact with extra terrestrial life less the result of the size of the universe but of its age. The universe is 13.8 billion years old, which sounds old, but the universe’s demise isn’t due for another 10,000 trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years (give or take a trillion trillion trillion years) So in the grand scheme of things we’re only really just at the very beginning of the primordial soup stage of life in the universe.
Most life in the universe hasn’t started and a million billion galaxies will be born and snuffed out of existence before it really gets going. I call this period a billion billion billion years from now The Great Flourishing in which most of the trillions of lifeforms that inhabit this particular universe, during it’s lifetime, will emerge. Of course in a billion billion billion years from now the universe will have expanded to such a mind-boggling extent that it will still be difficult for these distinct lifeforms to cross paths, but it will be a lot easier than it is now.
To illustrate this here is a chart showing the timescale of the universe, including human history, are the full extent of life contained within.
Please note that although this graph looks highly detailed it isn’t to scale as I didn’t have access to a sheet of paper that would stretch from here to the Andromeda galaxy and back 17 times.
(That was an extract from my forthcoming self published collection of science fiction short stories entitled “A Little History of the Future”)