Is Mankind Shortening the Life of the Whole Universe?

Like Schroedinger's cat, looking from inside the box, two American physicists have postulated that our study of the universe may have shortened the lifetime of the cosmos. Quantum theory says that when we measure something, we select a specific quantum state from a multitude of states, each with varying probabilities. The result in observing dark energy, is that we may have confirmed a state where the probability of its survival falls exponentially. Dr. Lawrence Krauss - of Case Western Reserve University - says "If so, as incredible as it may seem, our detection of dark energy may imply both an unstable universe and a short life expectancy." The research is available online, as are a number of criticisms.

Nice experiment

[iminplaya]

But attempting to measure the memory of a Slashdot editor just might damage it.

Lame

[tqft]

He published a proof of concept hack on the largest computer there is but no source code & no result.

Lame.

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[Jeremiah Cornelius]

How does Quantum observation respond to GIGO? ;-)

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[tqft]

That's actually a good question.

Be a shame if you misinterpreted the results of your observation and acted on it - sticking the universe into a ever expanding death spiral.

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[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Makes one think of your .sig

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[tqft]

Note the update by Krauss & dent which doesn't seem to have had any airtime
http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2007/12/astronomers_blamed_for_death_o.html#more [utexas.edu]

FYI - John Baez is a former moderator sci.physics.research - he knows his stuff.

Beware the in-jokes in the comments

"That'd sound completely crazy if you'd never heard of the quantum Zeno effect,where repeatedly observing a quantum system can keep it from changing its state."
"For one thing, the relevant concept of "observation" in the quantum Zeno

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[Jeremiah Cornelius]

I think they found the Achilles heel in the argument.

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[iminplaya]

Google In Google Out?