Sleep Deprivation and Survival Hymns

Am very alert. Serious sleep deprivation has combined with a blogfree week to pattern a pathway for new games and survival hymns.

How do you want it to end? and, and, and Do you have a survival hymn?

Think that New Scientist Stephen Battersby’s article [NS 5 February 2005 p31] offers interesting alternatives to Eliot’s “Not with a bang but a whimper”, Frost’s “Some say the world will end in fire Some say in ice. And Lehrer’s “We will all go together when we go. All suffused with an incandescent glow.”

And am also holding onto Lunaboca’s “Burning Down the Dreamhouse” metaphor here.

When you read Lehrer, Frost, Eliot and Lunaboca, the metaphor for “How will it all end?” lies is the chemistry of combustion – ends in some play on heat and light, on volatility involving oxidation and reduction, a dynamic interaction between potential and kinetic energy.

Cosmologists have been trapped for a while in that “ever colder, ever dimmer” cosmos future, but a cosmological rethink is offering many different pathways.

This is great news for those of us prone to vacillating – those of us torn between “the bang and the whimper” thinking.

Am going to look at these as alternative “survival hymns for 2005”

• Survival Hymn#1: The Big Crunch.
  Everything squashed into a super hot, super dense sea of radiation. “If dark energy turns negative, galaxies will begin to rush back toward each other at speeds that shift all radiation to the blue end of the spectrum. Eventually we will experience a big bang in reverse.”

  Note to self: This will require you to seek “all things bright and beautiful” - to avoid experiences that might precipitate dark energy and the blue end of the spectrum. You will need to be cautious, so very cautious about playing “sardine games” involving squashing together.

• Survival Hymn#2: The Even More Violent Big Rip.
  “If dark energy grows, the universe will tear itself apart. Around an hour from the end of everything, stars like the sun will explode.”

  Note to self: Do not undertake activities that might precipitate tearing and exploding. Eschew all notions of dark energy through explorations of The Goodies “ Take a little good advice. Try a trip to paradise.” A sausage or a can of beer” thinking. Dedicate yourself to the sausage above even the mince and cheese pie. Know this will be tough.

• Survival Hymn#3: The Slow Drift into Darkness.
  Acceleration will steal our view of other galaxies. A cosmos filled with black dwarves and giant diamonds. “With constant dark energy, galaxies will disappear from sight. Eventually, every particle will become separated from everything else.”

  Note to self: Remember, remember that you will always be lonely. Do not burn the dreamhouse – may be essential food for the mind during an eternity of Gorka-esque isolation. You will be playing I will always be lonely, nothing's ever gonna change that/ It's the way that I'm wired, it's the way that I'm set back/ From the man in the mainstream, from the crown in the highway/ I will always be lonely, it's the way that I am. "Always" - by John Gorka from "Old Futures Gone" 2003

• Survival Hymn#4: Quintessence.
  If dark energy fades in strength, there may still be some interaction between particles, and life will be just about possible.

  Note to self: Wanna go out? ..... "Constantly risking absurdity and death." ... life will be just about possible.
  

So how will it all end? Which survival hymn has resonance for you?

THELMA: But I don't know... something's crossed over in me and I can't go back. I mean, I just couldn't live...

Just might have to go for #2 "The Even More Violent Big Rip."

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