New Theory Suggests Universe Could Ctrl-Alt-Delete Itself

If the entire universe suddenly decided it was time to start over again, it could simply trigger a "self-destruct button" and this could happen at any time, with no warning whatsoever, some physicists believe.

It's certainly a grim thought to get your head around, but beyond mere scientific scaremongering, the theory does encourage serious debate among experts.

The concept of self-destruction is based on the ‘Higgs Field theory’, also referred to as Higgs Boson, which is thought to permeate the entire universe. The video below explains the Higgs Field theory and the concept of vacuum decay:

The question is whether the space is actually metastable, not stable or it's just pretending to be. This is known as a false vacuum and is where we could find that spark which could swallow the whole universe — a destructive event called "vacuum decay."

Alexander Kusenko, professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA , told Sputnik:

Described as "the ultimate ecological catastrophe: if it were to occur, in layman's terms it would basically mean we could be here one second and then completely wiped out the next — and we wouldn't even see it coming.

Could this theory relate to the demise of the dinosaurs? Not according to the experts who feel that if it were the case, then we may never have been able to exist ever too. And fossil remains would also not be found because alongside our dinosaur buddies, the entire Earth itself would have been annihilated.

But the good news, and there is good news… the theory is very much just a theory.

Much like the theory of robots and artificial intelligence turning sentinel, or the Simulation Hypothesis that we are all living in some kind of complex computer matrix. And just like these ideas, here's hoping none prove to be as accurate as some may believe them to be.

The article first appeared on Sputnik International.