Episode 29: Real talk about the end of the universe
In “The Time of the Doctor,” the Doctor’s TARDIS almost ends the universe by causing every star to explode. Luckily, it was just one of many times the Doctor saved us from the ultimate apocalypse.
For our first-ever live podcast, recorded in March on the JoCo Cruise, we talked to astrophysicist Katie Mack about how the universe will end. Will it be heat death or vacuum decay? We also talk about how rarely science fiction deals with the end of the universe, as opposed to the end of our planet or species. Also, why do we think the ultimate apocalypse is so funny, and will we survive it?
Works Cited & Etc.
Katie Mack, astrophysicist (@astrokatie on Twitter)
Katie’s forthcoming book, The End of Everything
The heat death of the universe
The Higgs boson
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
Isaac Asimov, “The Last Question”
Tao Zero, by Poul Anderson
Doctor Who, “Logopolis”
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
The movie where Sam Raimi killed a (fictional) cat is Drag Me to Hell (no actual cats were harmed)
The Expanse books and TV series
Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Becky Chambers, author of the Wayfarers books
Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy
N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy
The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters