Outer Wilds Glitches - The Little Galaxy That Could

[@jongyon7192p]

Particle-antiparticle pairs can form in the void just outside a black hole's event horizon, causing even black holes to eventually decay. However after an unimaginable amount of time, quantum randomness can cause even universe to form again. So I asked ChatGPT how quantum effects can keep a galaxy alive long after the end of the universe: Quantum randomness can play a role in extending the survival of a galaxy during heat death in two ways: Quantum tunneling: Quantum tunneling refers to the phenomenon where particles can pass through energy barriers without enough energy to do so classically. In the case of heat death, this could mean that particles can continue to escape from dying stars and participate in new star formation even after the galaxy has seemingly exhausted all energy sources. Quantum fluctuations: Quantum fluctuations refer to the fluctuations in energy in a vacuum state, even in the absence of any matter. In a galaxy during heat death, these fluctuations could cause regions of space to fluctuate in energy, creating pockets of new star formation and extending the life of the galaxy. Therefore, the presence of quantum randomness can lead to the creation of new stars and the prolongation of a galaxy's survival during heat death, keeping it active and vibrant for much longer than expected.

[@Dan0RG]

You know, that could kinda explain why Outer Wilds' solar system is pretty much the last to die - it's the closest to the Eye, (seemingly) the source of all quantum randomness in the universe. All the stars visibly go out pretty much at the same time, and because the speed of light is finite, it can only mean that the farther stars died way before the closer ones - perhaps the proximity to the Eye is what determines roughly which stars and galaxies die first, since, as Solanum explains, the scale of quantum uncertainty "grows enormously" the closer to the Eye you get. Don't mind me just nerding out about the lore.

[@jongyon7192p]

@ДанORG quantum effects is also what *causes* all things to eventually die. It could even cause things to die sooner. Since it's a statistical effect, the end of the universe is spread out in time by standard deviations.

[@z1d3]

I had that happen a few times

[@garnet1918]

Nice outro.