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In Eric Frank Russell's Now Inhale and Arthur C. Clarke's Nine Billion Names of God there are described Buddhist monks who have a task which will seem to take aeons to complete in order to bring about the end of the universe. I've seen this pop up a few times in pulp-era SF. My question is- are there any actual groups of people (they don't necessarily have to be Buddhist) who are busy working on a similarly seemingly impossibly long task which, upon completion, will end the universe?

The long version of 4'3" by John Cage doesn't count because they don't believe the world will end once they complete it.

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  • I didnt say religion, I said groups- no reason it has to be religious necessarily.
    – Broklynite
    Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 9:42
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    One of the most popular recent questions had to do with what technologies from Back to the Future II exist in real life. I fail to see the distinction. This is an idea that has popped up at least a few times in SF and I am curious if it has any basis in reality.
    – Broklynite
    Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 9:45
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not about science fiction or fantasy.
    – user14111
    Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 9:45
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    I'd argue in favour of this being on-topic. It is, in effect, asking for real life examples of a common sci-fi trope, and we accept questions like that.
    – Dr R Dizzle
    Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 9:48
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    SILENCE WILL FALL WHEN THE QUESTION IS ASKED… Sorry, couldn't resist.
    – AJL
    Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 10:25

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