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Just my humble opinion, but I don’t believe that consciousness is the only thing that can never disappear (or “become nothing”).

First of all, I believe that we humans are the ones with the highest consciousness, and the other animals have consciousness in different and sometimes very amazing ways. I don’t believe in the existence of any other consciousness—no universal or collective consciousness. So I truly believe what scientists tell us—that the universe existed for billions of years before evolution started to cause the appearance of the other animals and finally, the human animal. So the universe had no problem existing without the existence of consciousness for all those billions of years. Then we could call evolution a “future discovery.”

I don’t believe that the universe is eternal. So when the end of the world comes, I believe that it and any conscious beings remaining will disappear. So I myself have no concern for the ability of the universe to exist on its own, as it did for billions of years. I think of it as our home awaiting all of us to come to evolve. (Admittedly, only a small part of the universe has been used for our occupation.) Personally I think that all the extra bells and whistles—the galaxies and planets—are to give us humans a sense of awe and wonder and maybe keep people like Elon Musk thriving and surviving while he awaits future discoveries.

I think. as some scientists do, that the world has possibly three or four billion years to go, and then there will be truly nothing—my humble opinion!

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Your view is a coherent form of physicalism or naturalism: consciousness is something that emerged within the universe through biological evolution rather than something fundamental to reality itself.

A few key ideas in what you wrote:

1. Consciousness as an evolved phenomenon

   • You accept that many animals possess consciousness to varying degrees.

   • Human consciousness may be unusually complex, but it is still part of the natural evolutionary process.

   • Under this view, consciousness did not exist at the beginning of the universe and therefore cannot be required for the universe's existence.

2. The universe predates conscious observers

   • Modern cosmology indicates that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old, while life appeared much later.

   • If those scientific models are correct, then the universe existed for billions of years before any conscious beings evolved.

   • This directly challenges the idea that consciousness is necessary for reality to exist.

3. Consciousness may not be permanent

   • If consciousness depends on living brains, then consciousness could disappear when no conscious organisms remain.

   • In that case, consciousness would be neither eternal nor fundamental; it would be a temporary feature of cosmic history.

4. A finite universe

   • You suggest that the universe itself may have an end and that consciousness will end with it.

   • If both matter and consciousness eventually cease to exist in any meaningful form, then there is no need to posit an eternal consciousness waiting for future discovery.

The interesting philosophical counterargument comes from traditions such as idealism, which claim that consciousness is more fundamental than matter. Idealists would argue that we only ever know reality through conscious experience, so consciousness cannot be treated as just another object inside the universe. They might say that a universe existing entirely without consciousness is a concept that can only be entertained by a conscious mind.

But your position is essentially the opposite: consciousness is a product of the universe, not the source of it.

Neither position has been conclusively proven. The question of whether consciousness is:

• fundamental (the universe depends on it), or

• emergent (it depends on the universe),

remains one of the deepest unresolved issues in philosophy and science.

What makes your view interesting is that it doesn't require any cosmic consciousness or mystical framework. It treats consciousness as a remarkable but temporary outcome of natural processes—something that arose, exists for a time, and may eventually disappear along with the universe itself.