Amos,

The "end of the universe as we know it" was pertaining to the combination of quantum and traditional theory tied together (or in other words to a unified theory, the Holy Grail of many). It seems there may be the chance of a tear in the fabric of the universe should someone stumble upon a way to unlock dimensionality. Please, I use fabric as a metaphor for convenience only.

By the way, string theory grabs this very bull by the horns, Mr. Nonblack Hole. It suggests a temporal edge. Where HAVE you been?

There are several dozen papers on the subject and I believe one or two popular editions that include the layman and scientific views. They aren't really that new.

And I never said I subscribed to these views, only offered them as a point of reference for the remaining percentage (remember the 99.999?). Pure speculation does have a place in physics and the example I chose was only one of an incredible array of choices.

On inspection of harmony, I do think a case could be made for the end of the universe if we suddenly found ourselves without it, but I don't want to open up another can of worms. Remember, there are many other harmonic forms, not just music (but again, I could make a case for everything being musical, couldn't you?).

I suppose I could have been more mundane in that "last percentage" effort. I could have pointed to the RHIC finally "making" what appears to be quark-gluon plasma (the building blocks of protons and neutrons). Not that long ago, this wasn't even in the theoretical catalog. Today, it is commonplace to think we are able to erect structures available only in the first microseconds of the Big Bang.

And I'm SURE Mr. Nonblack Hole subscribes or not to the BBT. This would at least gives us a common point of discussion.