Part V: The Dark Universe

  

100 Trillion years in the future, the stars are burnt out and the heat death of the universe looms over the horizon...

Civilizations as we know it is transformed beyond anything we would recognize, there are still collectives, empires and republics, but any survivors of the Dark Universe are beyond anything we would call human, many live simply alone, ruling over a black hole system and living out life in slow, cold silence.  Their thoughts slowed to the point where perception of time is greatly sped up and very little energy is wasted.  Indeed many of these beings might sit motionless for billions of years, simply contemplating or waiting, yet to them a thousand years might pass like a second to us.

There are still civilizations, collectives, empires and republics, but the way of life and organization is v

MAJOR CULTURES:

Liberals:  The best way to deal with the situation is to use what energy we have to create a stable society of educated individuals, that will give us the best chance of finding a solution to the end of the universe and keeping our energy usage down in the meantime

Conservatives:  Centralized society is inefficient and totalitarian, instead we should rely on the entrepreneurship and innovation of individuals and corporations to find a solution to the problem.  Government is the problem.

Left Anarchists:  We need to create autonomous non hierarchical communities that can cooperate efficiently and with a minimum of conflict or coercion.  The solution is self organization, not bureaucracy or capitalism.

Right Libertarian:  We need to do away with any form of organized government, as long as government exists the consumption of energy will continue to spiral out of control.  Individuals can better manage their own energy needs and can negotiate disputes by following the principals of non aggression.

MINOR CULTURES:

Zealots  -  Turn to fanatical religious zealotry to deal with the impending end of the universe

Doomers -  Fatalists who become obsessed with death and spiral into depression

Denialists -  These idiots living in denial, wasting our precious matter on new stars

Academics -  Maybe if we study it enough it will go away

Bureaucrats -  Maybe if we manage the situation enough it will go away

Accelerationists -  It can't happen fast enough

Attritionists -  The more of you I kill the longer I get to live

Minimalists - Its up to each of us to live an energy efficient lifestyle