Prions
this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2025
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Luckily, this is the epitome of that Epicurus quote:
Why should I fear death? If I am, then death is not. If Death is, then I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?
Why should I fear death? If I am, then death is not. If Death is, then I am not
Death will be, so we will cease to be. Sounds like he ~~is~~ was whistling past the graveyard with that quote...
And when you do, you no longer have to worry about it. In fact, you can't.
Not much of a consoling thought to me.
Well, maybe it's because we mostly fear the WAY towards death, not the end of being a thing that is. Unless we get hit by a moving train...
You know how when you get put under for anaesthesia, and you don't notice the time you were gone? It's like a cut in the tape of life.
What if death is like that, and BAM your consciousness re-emerges billions of years in the future the moment you die.
But your consciousness is alone. And in pitch black nothingness. Forever.
This is what I think happens. You don't experience death, you just reemerge on the other side, no matter how long it takes.
The chances of your brain being created were infinitely small before you were born, but it still only took 14 billion years for it to happen.
Entropy would end up taking your consciousness as well, so I doubt you'd be there, 14.3 billions years later, forever.
We don't really know what consciousness is, so we can't really be sure that it is subject to entropy.
We have nothing to indicate anything to the contrary (other than denial)
It's not the death I'm worried about. I just don't want to suffer leading up to it or put my family through some long drawn out ordeal watching me die.
Well good news, false vacuum decay would kill everyone on Earth instantly with no warning
Then I'm not worried about it.
Same here. Like, that would obviously suck, but 🤷
I mean sure, it'd suck, but no one would be around to think it sucks, so it'd be fine 😎👆👉👆👉
How to remove all suffering. Utilitarians hate this simple trick!
Stop reading my mind!
I'm not worried about this specific apocalypse, if only because there is literally nothing that can be done to prevent it nor stop it if it starts.
I'm far more worried about more localized, preventable, human-caused apocalypse like climate or nuclear war.
Also, we won't see it coming and won't feel it happen. As far as deaths go, it's about as easy as it gets.
on the bonus side takes Trump, Elon, Nigel and Tate with it.
I mean, sure, but everything will cease to exist in a fraction of a second. Singling anyone or anything out seems kind of irrelevant.
Yea but still...
Exactly. Same energy as worrying about Earth being hit by a gamma ray burst - 🤷♂️
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How you know the Wikipedia article is good
didnt need the wikipedia page. soon as I read a couple pop sci articles on this I was like "welp this shit sounds dangerous it was nice to know you all"
I'm about as worried about this as I am about galaxy eating monsters. Not at all, really.
I'm more bothered by our apparently non-existent ability to detect and divert asteroids. More than that, I'm terrified of our habit of using global cataclysm as a strategic threat. But at the same time I feel like a species that acts like this probably should end themselves like that. Russian civilians consent to nuclear apocalypse.
So yeah, not very bothered by idea of false vacuum.
"threat
If our universe is in a false vacuum state rather than a true vacuum state, then the decay from the less stable false vacuum to the more stable true vacuum (called false vacuum decay) could have dramatic consequences.[5][6] The effects could range from complete cessation of existing fundamental forces, elementary particles and structures comprising them, to subtle change in some cosmological parameters, mostly depending on the potential difference between true and false vacuum. Some false vacuum decay scenarios are compatible with the survival of structures like galaxies, stars,[7][8] and even biological life,[9] while others involve the full destruction of baryonic matter[10] or even immediate gravitational collapse of the universe.[11] In this more extreme case, the likelihood of a "bubble" forming is very low (i.e. false vacuum decay may be impossible).[12] "
Also, of course there's a Kurzesagt
I'm going to file this under the category of philosophy similar to "what if we're living in a simulation?" and "parallel universe" theory. As far as I'm aware we have no evidence that there's even such thing as a false vacuum, so this is all just speculation based on some theories.
Yeah, if you need existential dread, a gamma-ray burst could end us in an instant too and they're confirmed to exist and much more likely.
Yeah but then we get to be big and green, or stretchy, or invisible etcetera
maybe you couldn't survive it but I'm built different
Does this mean the laws of physics could just... Change?
Hoping for the scenario that means FTL travel is possible and nothing else changes lol
Irl physics patch is crazy
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welp this parallel universe goes down the drain too
Subatomically dispersed at the speed of light is probably the best way to go. And no one would be left to mourn you.
♫♪♫ And we will all go together when we go ♫♪♫
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If our particular bubble of the universe has remained unmolested for 13.8 billion years, it is safe to assume it will continue to be for the next 1000 years.
that's what the vacuum aliens WANT you to think
Also it's not like assuming it will collapse in the next decade will make any difference other than having a harder time enjoying the time before then.
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Gamma Ray Burst
Sleep tight
I'd much prefer death by a solar system wide tsunami of highly energetic particles then the slow, agonizing death march we're currently doing.
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I believe that it is possible that false vacuum decay has already begun, but so far away that it might not ever reach us.
Obligatory mention of the novel [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schild%27s_Ladder](Schild's Ladder) by Greg Egan.
Such a scenario would be interesting indeed.
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