After the Big Crunch

In the beginning, roughly 10 billion years ago according to modern cosmology, was the Big Bang. The universe has been expanding ever since. Whether it will keep doing so forever, we do not know. It may be-if the density of matter in the universe is sufficiently great-that gravitational forces eventually will cause the universe to stop expanding and then to start falling back in upon itself. If that occurs, the universe will end in a cataclysmic event that cosmologists call the Big Crunch.

The history of modern science is somewhat analogous. This science appeared on the scene almost three centuries ago in Europe and slightly more than a century ago in the United States. In each case, it proceeded to grow at an astonishing exponential rate. But while the universe conceivably may expand forever, the exponential enlargement of the scientific enterprise is guaranteed to come to an end.

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