1. The Universe’s Acceleration Must Stop If Life Is to Survive Forever Terasem Conference, Vermont July 20, 2005

2. Life Survival for infinite experiential time requires expanding to arbitrarily large spatial volumes. In Dyson’s open universe theory, the spatial volume approaches infinity. In the Omega Point closed universe theory, the entire universe is taken over by life.

3. If the acceleration of the universe continues at the present rate, all galaxies outside the Local Group will eventually pass outside out event horizon. Life will necessarily die out, no matter what sort of universe we live in, open, flat or closed.

4. So if life is to survive forever, universal acceleration must be halted. The Standard Model of particle physics provides a mechanism, the same mechanism that explains why there is more matter than anti-matter: electroweak quantum tunneling.

5. The Standard Model says universe’s acceleration is due quantum gravity’s positive cosmological constant being today slightly larger in magnitude than Higgs field negative energy density. If no matter existed, these two would precisely cancel. SM says matter created in early universe by electroweak tunneling to false vacuum, raising Higgs energy density

6. Therefore, if matter annihilation occurs by reversing early universe creation, say by reaction p + e  (SM says B - L is conserved in electroweak vacuum tunneling, but not B or L separately) then Higgs field will relax to true minimum, and acceleration stops.

7. Reasons to believe p + e  process accessible to human technology in near future given in my recent paper in Reports on Progress in Physics 68 (2005), 897- 964. This process will allow us to convert matter entirely into energy. Ultimate energy source!

8. The process p + e  is also allowed according to SM (both sides of equation have B - L = 0) So matter can be converted into beam of neutrinos, thereby providing the ultimate rocket: exhaust particles move at light speed, but exhaust non-interacting

9. Prediction: in this century, we will obtain ultimate power source, ultimate rocket, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, human downloads, and quantum computers. AI’s and human downloads will expand off the Earth, and eventually gain control of the entire universe! Unitarity requires it. If the laws of physics be for us, who can be against us?

10. Outline of proof that unitarity requires life to survive forever: if universe were to expand forever, then unitarity violated when black holes evaporate. Unitarity good only if no event horizons, and general relativity says EH’s absent only if universe closed, ends in final singularity, and life guides universe.