Something always bothered me about the Ea. When you get to their section of Ultima Thule, every Ea you meet hints at some great knowledge about the universe they gained and how it's a terrible secret that they don't want to share with you, because it would take away your ignorance.

When they finally acquiesce and share their knowledge with you, it's...all the stars will eventually blink out and the universe will freeze over. Everything dies.

I immediately thought as I was watching this, "So?" I mean, humans in real life have known about this for decades. We even know roughly when our world will die, when our sun will become a white dwarf, and that our galaxy will collide with the Andromeda galaxy. We are even beginning to calculate when all the stars, planets, galaxies etc. in the observable universe will "blink out".

And do you know what the collective reaction humanity has had to this "shocking" information? "Hm. Cool. Anyway..."

It seems strange to me that such an advanced civilization like the Ea would be thrown into such a state of nihilism and despair after discovering that the universe will end someday. That all their achievements will be for nothing and that they, like everyone else, will be forgotten. To me that seems rather trivial and immature. Of course everything dies. Including the universe itself. Trying to attach meaning to all of that is, in my opinion, the inherent flaw.

Life has no meaning at all. Neither does the universe. It's not supposed to. Whatever meaning exists has to be defined by the individual. The drama of life plays out wherever life exists. It is not for existential debate. It is for living and nothing more. I think that's what Emet-Selch meant when he said that Hermes' question he tasked the Meteia with asking was flawed. "What is the meaning of life?" Uh...absolutely nothing.

So, if lowly humans can figure this out and can get on just fine (relatively speaking, of course; some would say we are not getting on fine at all) then why can't the Ea? Why was this revelation treated as such a big deal? Enough to break an entire civilization's will to live?

If there was some detail I'm not remembering I'd love to be reminded.