>>12818716If the universe ends in a deSitter space, then either it just sits there forever thermally getting randomized, or eventually, there is an instanton transition to a true M-theory vacuum, and all of space ends in cold flat 11 dimensions (or something else). Susskind has spent a lot of time thinking about the final state, but knowing exactly what happens requires a better understanding of string theory in deSitter spaces. Susskind has speculated that all deSitter spaces are metastable, but now he doesn't seem so sure. The argument was never airtight, and can't be, until we have a deSitter string theory, but I think it probably decays, just by Susskind's earlier arguments.
