Part 2/23:
Greene starts by discussing the universe's inception, emphasizing the Big Bang as the starting point of space and time. He explains the concept that, beyond our universe, there could be a landscape of multiple universes, each with its own Big Bangs—a notion rooted in inflationary cosmology and string theory. He uses a vivid analogy: the Empire State Building with floors representing exponentially increasing time durations, illustrating just how staggeringly vast the future of the cosmos is. For example, on this scale, the universe might reach a point called proton decay at around 10^38 years, beyond which conventional structures and life forms could cease to exist.