10 Predictions About The Future Star Trek Probably Got Wrong
1. 60 To 70 Trillion Years From Now: The Collapse Of The Universe
In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Chrysalis, the band of genetically engineered super-patients are back, and Jack and Patrick are worried about the final fate of the cosmos. There's too much matter, and so the universe is going to stop expanding and collapse in on itself. Easy solution: manipulate subspace to change the cosmological constant (Q can do that with a snap of the fingers). They've only got 60, 70 max., trillion years to implement their plan!
What the two anxious augments are describing is known amongst cosmologists as the 'big crunch'. It is one of several real-world theories which describe how the universe might end — from the 'big rip' to 'the big freeze' via the 'big slurp' and the 'big bounce'.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Jack, Patrick, and the rest of everything else that has ever existed, scientific consensus gives the 'big crunch' as the least likely cosmic demise. Unless there's a lot of dark matter out there, things will probably get as chilly as they can possibly get in the 'big freeze' or 'heat death' of the universe. The time needed for that to happen is also far greater than 60 to 70 trillion years, by several orders of magnitude.