Sunday, June 11, 2017

Black Hole Wars

By Leonard Susskind.

 

This is a discussion of Black holes, quantum physics, the holographic principle and a disagreement between Susskind and Steven Hawking. Susskind, being prone to hype things up, calls this disagreement a war.

 

I read this book to learn more about the holographic principle—the idea that the total entropy in a region of space is limited by the surface area around the region, and not the volume I don't quite understand this—many of the analogies in the book are a little broken. But I got the gist—as entropy goes up, mass goes up. If there is enough entropy in a region of space then a black hole will form.

 

The book has a few thoughts on Hawkings. He is brilliant, but getting older. His communication challenges are slowing him down. This is frustrating many physisists, since Hawkings carries outsized influence.  

 

 

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