the universe seems to be metastable

Well, that's sort of uplifting somehow. I remember in high school I read a book about the potential ends of the universe, and metastability didn't come up. Instead they said eventually, everything reactive will react with everything else until the whole universe reaches a kind of energetic homeostasis: which would manifest as an infinite expanse filled with light-year long blocks of iron - forever.

Actually, I used to read that book in the library instead of going to lunch... I was a strange kid.