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Humanity’s ultimate limit of reach

Summary

KG shows how the accelerating expansion of the universe limits the cosmic space we can reach for good, however advanced our technology becomes. Physical limits remain real even when technical limits are pushed very far. Exploration that is not undertaken can become irreversible, because reachable matter disappears over time.

Ideas

  • The speed of light limits every journey and every transmission of information through space.
  • Cosmic expansion carries distant galaxies out of our reachable region ever faster.
  • The Local Group remains gravitationally bound, while more distant structures disappear in the long run.

Recommendations

  • Distinguish between the observable universe, the reachable universe and the gravitationally bound neighbourhood.
  • Check cosmological statements against the expansion model assumed in each case.

References

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