An advanced civilization could resist the accelerating expansion of the universe

[Ninshub]

MIT Technology Review:

An advanced civilization could resist the accelerating expansion of the universe

And Earth-bound astronomers should be able to tell if someone is out there doing it, a physicist says.

When it comes to existential threats to humanity, some problems are more urgent than others. Disease, nuclear war, famine, asteroid impact: all have a well-studied likelihood of damaging society in the current age. These threats rightly instill a modicum of fear in the hearts and minds of many.

But one threat that is near the bottom of the list is the accelerating expansion of the universe. Indeed, it hasn’t been considered a clear threat at all until now.

Today that changes, at least a little, thanks to the work of Dan Hooper, a particle physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Hooper points out that we are unable to study, communicate, or influence things beyond the cosmic horizon, which is the maximum distance that light can travel to us within the age of the universe.