The 7 Scariest Theories On What Happens After The Universe Ends

The last supernova in the universe may not explode for 10^32000 years, and that is only number seven. Ahead: Freeman Dyson's plan for minds to outlast the stars, a 2025 model that gives the universe a finite lifespan, Stephen Hawking's retracted idea about time, and black holes that may hold whole universes. So what waits in the top three? Seven theories, ranked by how little of a future each one leaves, in a full three-hour walk down the list, made to be heard at any pace, even as you drift off to sleep. Settle in and let this slow walk past the end of everything keep you company tonight. Subscribe to The Cosmographer if you like the long way through the universe's biggest questions. CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 1:36 Number Seven, the long dark 30:26 Number Six, the last minds 58:30 Number Five, the crunch and the backward clocks 1:29:33 Number Four, the universes born from ours 1:58:22 Number Three, a timetable for the last day 2:28:23 Number Two, the ending no one could feel 2:59:50 Number One, the word that stops meaning anything SOURCES Adams & Laughlin, A Dying Universe (Rev. Mod. Phys., 1997) — https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9701131 Caplan, Black Dwarf Supernova in the Far Future (MNRAS, 2020) — https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.02296 Dyson, Time without end: Physics and biology in an open universe (1979) — https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/197... Krauss & Starkman, Life, the Universe, and Nothing (1999) — https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9902189v1 Krauss & Scherrer, The Return of a Static Universe and the End of Cosmology — https://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0221 DESI DR2 Results: March 19 Guide (Berkeley Lab) — https://www.desi.lbl.gov/2025/03/19/d... Andrei, Ijjas & Steinhardt, Rapidly Descending Dark Energy and the End of Cosmic Expansion — https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.07704 Luu, Qiu & Tye, The Lifespan of our Universe (JCAP, 2025) — https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.24011 Pathria, The Universe as a Black Hole (Nature, 1972) — https://www.nature.com/articles/240298a0 Caldwell, Kamionkowski & Weinberg, Phantom Energy and Cosmic Doomsday — https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0302506 Coleman & De Luccia, Gravitational effects on and of vacuum decay (1980) — https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/198... Hut & Rees, How stable is our vacuum? (Nature, 1983) — https://www.nature.com/articles/302508a0 Andreassen, Frost & Schwartz, The Complete Lifetime of the Standard Model — https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.08124 Zenesini et al., False vacuum decay via bubble formation in ferromagnetic superfluids — https://www.nature.com/articles/s4156... Bousso et al., Eternal inflation predicts that time will end — https://arxiv.org/abs/1009.4698 — Disclaimer: The Cosmographer produces educational entertainment. Factual claims come from published research and official scientific institutions, and any speculation or open question is labeled as such when it appears. This channel is not a news outlet. Watch at your own discretion. #EndOfTheUniverse #HeatDeath