This Minecraft Clock That Counts Down To The End Of The Known Universe

10 years ago

February 10, 2014 at 3:00 pm

And it might be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in the game.

Actually scratch that. It’s not necessarily the clock itself that’s interesting, it’s a combination of things: the motivation for creating the clock, and just how much will happen in this universe as that clock continues to tick down towards the extinction of all known matter.

YouTube user spumwack had a noble goal in creating this clock: he wanted to make the most useless thing in Minecraft possible. He came up with a solution: a door that would only open after the universe had ended. Pretty useless.

But the video that documents the creation of the timer, and goes into the reasoning behind it, is absolutely fascinating. It’s a lesson in perspective. It’s actually quite beautiful and I love it.

Comments

28 responses to “This Minecraft Clock That Counts Down To The End Of The Known Universe”

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j_swinbanks

February 10, 2014 at 3:07 pm

The most important question is, is this art?

Reply
1. poita
  
  February 10, 2014 at 5:56 pm
  
  If you have to ask the question, then the answer is automatically yes 🙂
  
  Reply
2. beejep
  
  February 11, 2014 at 2:58 am
  
  Gams r art
  
  Reply
beeawwb

February 10, 2014 at 3:11 pm

Depressingly beautiful.

Reply
Lichloathe

February 10, 2014 at 3:21 pm

well that’s was either really cool or very depressing. I’m not sure how I feel.

Reply
1. yumpy
  
  February 10, 2014 at 3:53 pm
  
  I’ve decided to go with both.
  
  Reply
danmazkin

February 10, 2014 at 3:52 pm

This makes me want to watch more VSauce videos on youtube

Reply
aliasalpha

February 10, 2014 at 3:54 pm

Hmm, he seems oddly optimistic about how long the universe is going to last, that implies I’m not going to get my hands on that uranium I’m after…

Reply
john_stalvern

February 10, 2014 at 4:09 pm

Makes you think, maybe this whole universe thing is a one time thing.

Reply
1. sweawm
  
  February 10, 2014 at 5:46 pm
  
  In a larger understanding, I speculate with no evidence, a cycle of the universe. If our universe came out of nothing, a ‘big bang’, then obviously, when the universe finally has NOTHING in it, such an impossible force triggers a explosion of reality, the next ‘big bang’, that begins everything all over again.
  
  The universe rises from nothing, decays, and then ignites again as reality cannot deal with a universe that solely consists of nothingness.
  
  I’d personally build my future inside a virtual reality simulation. Time isn’t a set rule, instead, time flows as we witness it. Thus, hook yourself up into a super computer where you can live a million years of virtual immortality for every second on Earth. Thus, you have created all the time, but all that time will never be enough.
  
  Reply
  1. harukaa
    
    February 10, 2014 at 6:15 pm
    
    You know, I have had the exact same thought. SAO anyone?
    
    Reply
  2. thrasher
    
    February 10, 2014 at 7:30 pm
    
    The Big Bang is a misleading name anyway since there was no “big bang” at the start of the universe. Living inside a VR world would probably be fun for the first few thousand years though, I think after that you’d run out of things to do.
    
    Reply
  3. greywolf
    
    February 10, 2014 at 10:04 pm
    
    Your brain wouldn’t be able to keep up and react fast enough to the VR World though… That is unless this is the cyborg future were our brains all have chips in them to boost their power…
    
    Reply
finaldelerium

February 10, 2014 at 4:28 pm

That wall is just made of rock, I could pickaxe my way through there!

Reply
1. namiwakiru
  
  February 10, 2014 at 4:32 pm
  
  I bet there is a sign or something inside that says. “Hey!! You cheated”
  
  Reply
finaldelerium

February 10, 2014 at 4:28 pm

Seriously though, amazing.

Reply
boogoose

February 10, 2014 at 4:29 pm

Quick question…..
Do I have time to watch the video about the minecraft clock counting down to the end of the universe……………or should I just run along to porn tube and spend the last precious bit of time productively??

Reply
1. jocon
  
  February 10, 2014 at 5:00 pm
  
  You might just have time for both.
  Maybe.
  
  Reply
  1. boogoose
    
    February 10, 2014 at 5:07 pm
    
    If nothing else building one of these in real life would be worth it just for messing with archeologists 1000 years from now……….kind of like the Mayans did to all those new age hippies in 2012……….
    
    Reply
2. greywolf
  
  February 10, 2014 at 10:05 pm
  
  Umm do the first one… But then do the second one after just ’cause
  
  Reply
Cindax

February 10, 2014 at 4:31 pm

“and only then, will this door open” ..or you could use a Pick!

Reply
jocon

February 10, 2014 at 5:01 pm

Awesome.
Somehow building a physical version of that clock would be even more awesome.

Reply
thrasher

February 10, 2014 at 5:26 pm

That was amazing to watch. Makes me hope that the Heat death of the universe remains the most likely to occur just so all his work doesn’t go to waste.

Reply
jarjarjake

February 10, 2014 at 7:14 pm

That was easily the most depressing minecraft video ever made.

Reply
drunken-hutt

February 10, 2014 at 9:57 pm

Wait a second, how do we even know the known universe is going to end, let alone by one googol year?

Reply
1. alphamone
  
  February 10, 2014 at 10:44 pm
  
  calculations based on the expansion of the universe, radioactive decay, amount of hydrogen that has been fused into elements that cannot self-sustain fusion (iron in the case of stars that cant go supernova, and everything heavier than iron for those that can, and those again will eventually decay). It also depends on whether protons decay, if they do, the universe will slowly turn into a thin cloud of sub-atomic and elementary particles.
  
  However, if they don’t the universe will last far beyond a googol years, and all that will happen is that only stable isotopes of elements will remain (iron-56 being one of the most stable of all isotopes of all elements, with the few that are more stable being extremely rare due to not being a common product of stellar nucleosynthesis).
  
  Of course, this all assumes that none of the more exotic ends of the universe (or even the star of a new universe) occur in the meantime.
  
  Reply
2. thrasher
  
  February 10, 2014 at 10:57 pm
  
  Physics and computer simulations mainly. There are various theories of how the universe will end. The most supported one is the heat death of the universe which is the one in this video and that’s all because of the good old 2nd law of thermodynamics.
  
  Reply
  1. gregorvorbarra
    
    February 11, 2014 at 1:13 am
    
    Yes, the whole dark matter / accelerating expansion / quintessence thing has thrown some doubt into the question of how the universe will end… but as I recall the alternatives have the Big Rip occurring before 10^100 years.
    
    Reply
steve109

February 10, 2014 at 10:24 pm

science.

Reply
douga

February 11, 2014 at 1:01 am

Only the decendants of minecraft sheep will see it open.

Reply
greywolf

February 11, 2014 at 1:39 am

Wow that was depressing

Reply

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This Minecraft Clock That Counts Down To The End Of The Known Universe

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28 responses to “This Minecraft Clock That Counts Down To The End Of The Known Universe”

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