Quote Originally Posted by Patriot57
Science currently makes no prediction of what happened before the big bang. The correct answer to the original question is, "I don't know".
That is correct.

Current physics cannot address what happened at the exact moment of the Big Bang. All the equations that work so well up to that moment break down at that point, and no one knows what happened "before." (There technically is no "before," because time began with the Big Bang.)

Currently it is believed that some kind of force called Dark Energy is driving an acceleration of the expansion of the universe. It is believed that the universe will continue to expand, thin out and cool down until it is dark, cold and empty.

I always take that kind of prediction with a grain of salt, bacause our understanding of the universe is always changing (for example, Dark Energy and Dark Matter were unknown just a few years ago, and no one knows for sure what they are yet). No one knows what we will find in the next few years to change our understanding of the ultimate fate of the universe. I'm hoping that the begining can be better understood, maybe through string theory or M theory, or some other crazy-ass thing that hasn't even been dreamed up yet --- it is probably not far away.