DOCTOR WHO AND THE END OF THE UNIVERSE

Utopia (BBC1 – 16 June) took Doctor Who to the end of the universe. It wasn’t quite clear whether this meant the end, meaning edge, or end, meaning finished, but I’ll assume the latter; although it was surprising to find a complete planet at the end, peopled by the remains of humanity. One would expect the ‘end’ to be different to this.
Never mind. Anything can be forgiven with Doctor Who. And there was a nice irony that they were building a rocket to save them. It was going to take then to Utopia; which does, of course, mean ‘nowhere.’ Even with the Doctor, there is oblivion in the end.

BIG BANG ONWARDS

The idea of the end of the universe is a natural continuation of it having a beginning in the Big Bang. Here, the universe was created in a moment of time by a sudden expansion of a ‘singularity.’
Most people consider the singularity to be a huge ball of matter. Infact, it is nothing more than a mathematical point of infinity. That’s the thing with Big Bang – it is all to do with math.
At the point of rapid expansion, basic particles were released into what became the universe. Over time, gravity condensed matter into stars, which exploded in supernova, having cooked heavier particles, which went on to form more stars and planets.

AT THE END OF THE ROAD

An inevitability of the expansion of the universe is the possibility that it will eventually slow down and stop, thus providing an end. As to the nature of this end, entropy is vital to what could happen.
Entropy is the natural predilection towards disorder of a closed system. In other words, everything degrades. This is true from food going bad, to machines eventually giving up. And it is the same with matter.
As the end of the universe approaches, all matter will break down into its simplest form, with the universe being nothing but a constant heat throughout. This is known as the Heat Death of the universe, so Doctor Who’s planet could not exist.

ARGUING WITH THE BANG

Of course, we can decide the Big Bang is not true. Other than math, the only evidence of its validity is the observable fact that galaxies move away from each other, and a predicted level spread of radiation from the supposed ‘bang’ has been detected.
Indeed, the math often doesn’t fit. For instance, only 10% of the mass of the universe required for the math has been found. To allow the math to survive, dark matter and energy has been postulated, but so far none of it has been found.
Philosophically, we also have the problem that we tend to be linear in outlook – in other words, ever since Genesis, we have become accustomed to there being a beginning and end to everything. Are we therefore conditioned to want a Big Bang and Heat Death?

STEADY STATE

In the east, a more cyclical attitude prevails, with no beginning or end, but a continuance through never ending cycles. A previous model of the universe used to exist in the Steady State, reflecting this cyclical attitude.
Here, the universe has always been, and always will be. The universe simply creates a level spread of matter, continually renewing itself. This arguably also explains galaxies moving apart and a level spread of radiation throughout the universe.
Steady State was dropped through lack of a ‘mechanism’ to constantly provide new matter. But since then we’ve realized the existence of Black Holes, constantly eating matter and putting it – somewhere. Could they recycle matter back into the universe?

ANTHROPICALLY SPEAKING

There is, of course, another way to view the universe. In the Anthropic Principles, man, or consciousness, is given a primary role in the universe. Stated simply, the universe is designed to make life inevitable. Basically, ‘we’ are why the universe ‘is.’
This ties in with a quirk of quantum theory. Until observed, a particle can be in any state possible. It is the observation of the particle that gives it a definite reality. Here, it is the role of the observer – i.e. us – to bring the universe into being.
In such a model, the universe cannot ‘be’ without consciousness, and can only end when consciousness is no more. Of course, this suggests that consciousness had to be in the universe at the beginning. Oh God!

IN CONCLUSION

Doctor Who has caused many problems by going to the end of the universe. We have had to consider Big Bang and Steady State, one making his visit impossible, the other making his visit – well, impossible.
I think he would go for the anthropic/observer paradigm. Here, if he wanted to have a planet at the end of the universe, we think it, therefore it is. Then again, if consciousness has to exist in the universe for it to ‘be’, then God must have the final say:
‘The End? Pah! Here’s another one I made earlier.’

© Anthony North, June 2007

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