The Most Efficient Way to Destroy the Universe – False Vacuum
Why Worldbuilding Stack Exchange recommends it
Worldbuilding Stack Exchange answerers link it when people ask how to wipe out a planet, star system or the whole universe, as an accessible illustration of vacuum decay as the ultimate destruction event.
Recommended by 2 people across 2 different months, 2016 to 2020.
What it is
A short animated explainer from Kurzgesagt about vacuum decay, the idea that our universe sits in a metastable 'false vacuum' that could collapse into a lower energy state. A bubble of true vacuum would then expand at light speed and erase matter as we know it. The video is narrated and illustrated in the channel's usual style.
What people said
Recommends Sasugasm · 2018-03 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “What weapon of mass destruction could theoretically vaporize a whole solar system?”
A controlled False Vacuum over the area This is not supposed to be possible, but let's admit that your engineers invented a weapon capable of producing a false vacuum , and control its expansion . Basically, a way to erase from existence a part of the universe cleanly and in the most horrible way possible. This would cause controversy. Why ? For the same reason that, in today's world, people fear that an uncontrolled black hole would suddenly pop from a scientific experience and delete Earth . Imagine that your mass weapon of destruction fails , and the false vacuum continues his way through the designated area. That would be really bad for the WHOLE universe. But also for another reason : b
Recommends SurpriseDog · 2020-03 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “How could you wipe out all life from the universe?”
Trigger a Vacuum decay event [LINK] . In Quantum Field Theory, there's an idea that the vacuum state of the Universe is not actually at zero energy level. Instead, its at a "false zero", meaning that it could decay into a lower energy level. [LINK] If a more stable energy level for the vacuum is achieved, then this would expand outward across the Universe at the speed of light causing the complete destruction of barionic matter (and all life) as we know it. Kurzgesagt made a video on this topic that explains the idea more graphically: [this video]
Cites Zxyrra · 2016-12 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “Plausible Original Concept For High-Fidelity Apocalypse?”
Let's make a list, then narrow it down. Here's the criteria to judge scenarios Kill off most people Make big cities uninhabitable Make food and clean water hard to come by Be predictable enough to evacuate world leaders Be plausible enough that it could occur in real life Here are scenarios that won't work, but you could handwave anyway. Comment if you think some are worth elaborating on anyways: Natural pathogen : Extremely difficult to achieve #1 in the modern day Famine : Extremely difficult to achieve #1, #3 globally Planetary collision : Violates #1, #3, #4 by doing too much Infertility : Violates #2, #3, #4; violates #5 because it is treatable Gamma ray burst : Violates #1, #3, #4 by d
Cites Nierninwa · 2020-03 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “How fast would strange matter conversion go?”
Background: So this Kurzgesagt video [LINK] talks about quark stars, and how two of them colliding could send strangelets [LINK] flying towards Earth or the Sun. Now it's been said that since, theoretically (as none has been actually observed), this is a more stable state of matter, this could start a "contamination" of sorts that turns any celestial body into a ball of strange matter (essentially, a new quark star). There are articles [LINK] discussing these possibilities (along with other things such as the true vacuum theory) and there have been books with the plot being that a particle accelerator created strange matter that escapes (which, from my understanding, is highly unlikely). Sce