All matter in the universe will one day decay into energy, destroying the universe as we know it. There is something that doesn't follow this rule: the photon.

A photon will not decay spontaniously. The problem here is that we will end up with lots of photons racing off into infinity without accomplishing anything.

The solution is to entangle large amounts of photons. Near the end of the universe, it will be very unlikely that they will be disturbed. At that time, real matter will be very rare, and it will be very unlikely that more than a few wave-forms will be collapsed. We can form these entangled photons into a quantum computer, ensuring that all information will never be lost no matter how far apart they may drift.
-- Voice, Oct 10 2007

The problem is Solved. http://en.wikipedia...i/The_Last_Question
Asimov considered it one of his best. [lurch, Oct 10 2007]

You have not prevented the heat death of the universe just made the universe a photon simulation . At the end the physics laws may fly out the window just as they flew in at the start .
-- wjt, Oct 10 2007


I must have missed the part in class where it turned out that photons (or their analogues) weren't are the primary transmission medium for energy.

In a photonless, heat-death universe, in what form does the energy take? I just presumed that it would have been photons anyway - horribly red-shifted ones, but photons all the same.
-- zen_tom, Oct 10 2007


Background radiation. Wait, is that made of photons?
-- Voice, Oct 11 2007



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