More Dread

From Heinz Pagels' The Cosmic Code: "Suppose the unified field theory ideas are right and the experimental physicists will observe proton decay.  What does this mean?  The most profound implications are for cosmology--proton decay is the death knell of our universe.  Most of the visible matter in the universe--the stars, galaxies, and gas clouds--is made out of hydrogen, and the nucleus of the hydrogen atom is a single proton.  If protons decay, then the very substance of the universe is rotting away like a cancer that infects matter itself.  This rotting away of matter will, according to these unified theories, take a very long time: about a thousand billion billion (1021) times the present age of the universe."  Then, he reassures us: "We will have lots of time to explore the universe before it vanishes" (308).  So: you can't count on anything, not even protons.  Does it matter that "we" have this time?