Wonders of the Solar System

. . it is a wierd feeling that mankind could be permanently wiped from the face of the, well universe, whole space thing
all that would be left are the spanners and bits of space junk that have been discarded from satelites over the last 40 years

junk the only sign that we were ever here
how fitting !

The junk won't last forever either, all signs of us will eventually 'go'.

Of the three models of the universe - the expanding model, the static model and the cyclic model - only the static model offers any hope of a 'future' (even if that 'future' is fragments of microscopic plastic as a reminder of our existence - floating in an empty universe) - but unfortunately the static model has been pretty much ruled out - so we are left with the expanding model - where the universe will expand forever and lead to the 'heat death' of the universe - and the cyclic model where the expansion will eventually halt and then collapse (we are talking over unimaginable time scales).

Both could not sustain life, one could not sustain matter, so that's us fucked, in the most absolute sense.

The cyclic model is the most interesting as it offers the idea that not only will mankind not exist in the future (guaranteed in both scenarios) - but would have never existed. This is a philosophical stance really, but with time collapsing (and even if there is a recoil) no information could pass through the singularity (not sure if I am using the right phrase, but the point at which the collapse would recoil or remain a singularity) - not just in the sense that nothing could be remembered or passed on but in the sense that there is no time, so there is no past or 'memory' (I am divorcing memory from sentience here, let's call it information).

Sorry that's all a bit messy, but I hope you get the idea, we are fucked, and there is one outcome of two likely scenarios where we never existed in the first place (albeit reliant on my slightly contradictory interpretation of 'time').

The cosmic microwave background radiation scans indicates that the expanding model (heat death) might be the likely future - although cyclic (contraction) is far from ruled out, either way the future is a silent, pitch black emptiness.