Heat death of the universe

[MyGhastIsFlabbered]

Watching the lovely Brian Cox and he was talking about heat death of the universe...as I understood it it means that at some point in time (billions and billions of years in the future) all the stars in the universe will have used up their fuel and will essentially go out. Every single star.

I can't explain why but this idea fills me with absolute horror, it actually makes me go cold. I don't know why, because it's so far in the future I certainly don't need to worry about it. But I can't stop thinking about it. And hoping it's not going to happen. I just can't imagine a 'dead' universe.

I agree, @Brahumbug . Even if energy is not lost, entropy ensures it ends up uselessly distributed evenly across the universe as heat - hence the title of this thread, the inevitable outcome of thermodynamics.

There’s a good YouTube video on this . It takes you through the universe from Big Bang to eventual death. The time of stars is only the beginning of universe life; billions and billions of years of darkness follow. Very fascinating and as others have said, overwhelming and a bit scary to try to contemplate.

of all the things to worry about...

what might help is the physicists eulogy, which if I were to have a funeral (I won't, just a disposal) would be the only thing I would want read. Here it is.

futurism.com/the-science-of-death-a-eulogy-from-a-physicist