Alien Life

[Singollo]

...stasis that's never quite reached?

Yup, the idea of a "flat universe", as opposed to an open one (endless expansion) or a closed one (Big Crunch...er, Smoosh). It's impossible to tell for sure, of course, because things like dark matter and dark energy make calculations difficult, as does the mysterious repelling force that seems to be accelerating galaxies apart from one another. The flat universe idea is the romantic view, because it requires a complete balance between everything, which would signify (to some folks' minds) some grand plan or controlling factor behind the scenes. The data, as it is now, is amazingly close to the flat balance.