第二，在未来，工程师或许可以操控行星或者死亡星球的碰撞，这种碰撞很有可能进一步释放出大量能量。而在未来的宇宙中，应该有很多这样的材料可以使用。
第三，未来的文明或许只需要很有限的能量就可以维持运转。最近关于可逆计算机与量子计算机、以及时间晶体的理论研究表明，进一步发展——至少是维持运动——所需要的能量是没有下限的。
第四，由于我们并不真正地了解到底是什么机制触发了宇宙大爆炸，可以想象，或许有那么一天，我们能够设计出类似的机制，未来也将有机会重新引爆宇宙。
这次游泳很尽兴。我脑洞大开，想象着那些可以拯救宇宙的技术手段，备感愉悦。宇宙的终极命运固然让人绝望，但或许不那么严重。
从湖里出来的时候，我似乎比之前更热了，这让我颇为郁闷。而在眼下，地球上的气候问题确实已经变得非常糟糕了，尽管可能还没有发展到无可救药的地步。
英文版
The laws of physics say that in the distant future, all change and activity in the cosmos will come to an end. Can that fate be postponed?
One very hot day this summer, during a morning swim, my mind wandered to a different version of climate change: the “heat death” of the universe. Ironically, though it remains a plausible outcome for cosmic history, it’s a less distressing subject than our own warming planet.
The idea of heat death arose with the scientific understanding of heat itself in the 19th century. The core idea is simple: Physical systems tend to settle toward equilibrium. For example, heat will tend to flow from a hot body into an adjacent cold body, cooling the former and warming the latter, until both reach the same intermediate temperature, after which heat is no longer exchanged.
Ultimate equilibrium and stasis can be postponed by the injection of energy, but only temporarily. Engines can be refueled, animals fed, batteries recharged; but engines wear down, animals die, and batteries lose their juice.
These common observations are generalized and sharpened in the science of thermodynamics. The capstone of thermodynamics is its so-called Second Law, first formulated mathematically by Rudolf Clausius in 1865, which states that entropy, a measure of disorder, increases over time—distinctive structure erodes. Featureless equilibrium is the state of maximum entropy, toward which the Second Law drives us.
The inexorable logic of the Second Law leads, in the long run, to a bland universe wherein nothing changes-that is, heat death. Modern physical cosmology has fleshed out that conclusion. Gravity wants matter to clump, but in the early universe, matter’s distribution was extremely uniform, so gravity was way out of equilibrium. Over time, gravity has sought to come into equilibrium, notably by condensing stars out of gas clouds. The high density and pressure found inside stars ignites nuclear fuel.
Nuclear burning injects heat and powers a dynamic universe. But this is a temporary reprieve. After a few tensof billions of years, stars everywhere will have exhausted their fuel and winked out.
There are several ways that our distant descendants, or other embodiments of mind in the universe, might resist heat death. Here are some ideas that occurred to me as I swam:
