August 12 2036, The Heat Death Of The Universe

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Part of a series on ai_sponge / AI-Generated SpongeBob. [View Related Entries]

About

August 12 2036, The Heat Death Of The Universe, also known as August 12th, 2036, refers to a doomsday prediction uttered by characters in ai_sponge (an AI-generated parody of SpongeBob SquarePants on YouTube), specifically the Squidward character (also known as Loudward) who repeated the phrase in June 2023. The utterance and viral clip led to reactions and memes across social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok, among others. The clip was also referenced alongside the 2006 Honda Civic meme from ai_sponge.

Origin

On June 3rd, 2023, YouTuber^[1] Chromeblox85 posted a clip from an ai_sponge livestream recorded that day in which SpongeBob said, "Hi Squidward!" and then Squidward said, "August 12 2036. The heat death of the universe. August 12 2036. The heat death of the universe. August 12 2036. The heat death of the universe." The video gained roughly 385,700 views and 27,000 likes in five days (shown below, left). Also on June 3rd, YouTuber^[2] ONLINT posted another clip from the same stream in which all the characters were speaking of "August 12 2036," gaining roughly 138,200 views and 7,300 likes in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

Spread

Soon after, on June 3rd and 4th, 2023, the date was referenced by multiple Twitter^[3]^[4] users. The clip also went viral on TikTok on June 4th, when TikToker^[5] @garagaianuro posted the clip, gaining roughly 21,600 plays and 730 likes in four days.

On June 5th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @garfield_negs71 posted a video that recaptioned a @liam_duvall (currently known as TikToker^[7] @scarepants) video, inserting an August 12 2036 reference. The TikTok received roughly 33,900 plays and 2,200 likes in three days (shown below, left). Similar videos soon followed on the app, such as a video posted by TikToker^[8] @scoutwashere on June 6th, 2023, that used an Ambatukam sound and an apocalypse video, receiving roughly 322,600 plays and 41,000 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Also on June 6th, 2023, the Facebook^[9] page Hello welcome to purgatory 2: why do we keep doing this posted a meme that referenced August 12 2036 and showed Loudward, gaining over 630 reactions in two days (shown below, left). The meme was reposted elsewhere, such as to Instagram.^[10] Similar memes surfaced on Twitter, such as a tweet sent by Twitter^[11] user @Kawaiioma on June 7th, 2023, that received over 610 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Continuing into June 2023, the clip gained more memes and variations on YouTube, such as a re-animation of the scene posted by YouTuber^[12] Testosul Lucifer on June 6th, 2023, that received roughly 2,600 views in two days (shown below).