Omega Point

Omega point is a term used by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to describe the aim towards which consciousness evolves; he held that evolution was a process converging toward a final unity. According to Chardin and the Russian scholar and biologist Vladimir Vernadsky (The Geosphere [1924] and The Biosphere [1926]), the planet is in a transformative process, metamorphosing from the biosphere into the noosphere.

This term is also used by Tulane University professor of mathematics and physics Frank J. Tipler to describe a hypothetical cosmological scenario in the far future of the Universe. According to the omega point theory, as the Universe comes to an end in a Big Crunch, the computational capacity of the Universe is capable of increasing at a sufficient rate that this computation rate is accelerating exponentially faster than time runs out. In principle, a simulation run on this Universe-computer can thus continue forever in its own terms, even though the external Universe lasts only a finite time. This theory assumes that certain cosmological variables prove that the universe will eventually contract, and that there will be intelligent civilizations in existence at the appropriate time to exploit the computational capacity of such an environment.

Tipler identifies this asymptotic state of infinite information capacity with God. The implication of this theory for present-day humans is that this ultimate cosmic computer will essentially be able to resurrect everyone who has ever lived, by recreating all possible quantum brain states within the master simulation. This would be a Matrix-like simulated reality, except without the necessity for physical bodies in "reality". From the perspective of the inhabitant, the Omega Point represents an infinite-duration afterlife, which could take any imaginable form due to its virtual nature.

Recent observations suggesting an accelerating universe mean that the Big Crunch, on which the theory was originally predicated, is now thought an unlikely scenario. However, Professor Tipler has recently amended his views to accommodate an accelerating universe if the acceleration results from a positive cosmological constant. He proposes baryon tunnelling as a means of propelling interstellar spacecraft. If the baryons in the universe were to be annihilated by this process, then this would force the Higgs field toward its absolute vacuum, cancelling the positive cosmological constant, stopping the acceleration, and allowing the universe to collapse into the omega point.