Random Theories About the Universe That Will Keep You Up at Night (13 items)

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  (#10) The Big Bang Came from Already-Existing Universes

  String theory says that there shouldn't be just one universe, but a whole lot of them floating out there. How was ours crafted? Well, speculation is that the Big Bang came from other universes splitting apart or crashing together. Does it make us less unique? Sure. But look on the bright side - if that's true, that means we're not as alone as we thought. 
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  (#5) The Universe Is a Computer Simulation

  The Matrix may be real, according to Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrum. He suggested that an advanced civilization, with enough computer power, could run a simulation elaborate enough to create artificial minds, physics, and everything else in our universe. Right now, you might just be a really complex set of 1s and 0s. 
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  (#3) Here's What Happens When You Fall into a Black Hole

  Black holes are pretty freaky things. The closer you get to the center, the more space and time become completely meaningless. It's been theorized you would be hanging in nothingness for all eternity or shredded apart into the smallest possible pieces. Either way, it's pretty certain you it won't go as well for you as it did for Matthew Mcconaughey in Interstellar.
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  (#8) The Universe Is So Big, We'll Never Meet Another Civilization

  There are a lot of planets out there. So many that, statistically speaking, alien life simply has to exist in one form of another. But if that's true... where they heck are they? Well, the Fermi Paradox sees that discrepancy and theorizes that it's either much harder for life to exist than we thought, or more life has existed and simply been destroyed over time. Either way, we'd be very alone. 
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  (#2) Venus Is What Earth Will Become Due to Climate Change

  Earth and Venus have been called "twins separated at birth." They have very similar size, mass, and composition... only one sustains life and the other is a galactic wasteland. The reason for that is Venus' atmosphere mostly consists of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which has cooked the surface of the planet to 870 degrees Fahrenheit. As we're sure you know, people are pretty concerned about the level of carbon dioxide going up on Earth too.

  It might be time to stock up on sunscreen. 
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  (#1) The First Thing Aliens Will See From Humanity Is Hitler

  Carl Sagan was a visionary man, gracing the world with his intelligence and imagination. In his book Contact, he theorized that the first thing aliens would see of us was Hitler. Turns out that the first signal broadcast powerful enough to break past Earth's atmosphere was Hitler's opening speech at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, so there's a good chance that's the first communication aliens would pick up. Hopefully they won't judge us too harshly... 

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