First paper to connect Standard Model Higgs-potential parameters to vacuum stability in a cosmological/particle-physics framing, asking whether our present electroweak vacuum is the true minimum or a long-lived metastable state, and what that implies for the Universe’s future. relevance_note: originates the “is our vacuum metastable” question later made quantitative by the Higgs-mass measurement; the historical anchor for the metastability soft-spot.