Was working the counter at a repair shop. This really old guy had come in for a data backup and a wipe/restore. We performed said service, and reloaded the data from the backup back on, and his outlook data was encrypted with a password he couldn't remember.
This infuriated him, he specifically asked me if I wanted HIM to "Shove the desktop tower up his ass, stick his head in after it, and give it a sniff."
Existence is in the eye of the beholder. For something to exist it must be observed.
It sounds like in the book you read performing general science would go towards observing the universe preventing its heat death?
I dunno if fully applicable, but that's what I got out of it :D