so i wonder what comes after?
The same question goes for space. Is there any size to the nothingness? To go further when you have notions like inflation, can you have nothing that is increasing in volume? That would suggest a change in state an thus a sense of not yet ended.
It would be a weird thing for nothingness to change state. It seems like fertile soil for sci-fi. Imagine if space itself was kind of Turing complete and once the noise of matter ended it could start the real work, which of course would be simulating the next universe.
If there are no physical laws, there’s nothing to stop that happening.
The actual concept of time does not exist (at least in my humble year 12 physics understanding and having read Brief History Of Time a long time ago :) )
It pains me to say this, because it is a masterpiece of vulgarisation, putting arcane physics and cosmology within reach of (still decently-educated) normal people, but it is very outdated in a lot of respects. It badly needs something else.
I found some of Carlo Rovelli’s books to be quite compelling, but they are more focused on the topic of time and space-time. Not really the universe in the same way as Hawking’s were.