- #1
mitchell porter
Gold Member
- 1,447
- 700
Gravity, information, and cosmology (was "Thoughts about the universe")
There was a thread here a few minutes ago, posted by a new user, called "Thoughts about the universe". It contained reflections about gravity, information, and the universe, that were probably inspired by the holographic principle, along with some less "scientific" thoughts. Some moderator has apparently deleted it, rather than just moving it. This is unfortunate, as I was about to make some extended comments on the scientific aspects - in effect, how to understand some of the things one hears about black holes (that time stops inside them, that they swallow "information"), and also about the meaning of "holographic cosmology", in which the whole history of the universe is supposed to be equivalent to a timeless field theory at its boundary in the infinite future. This is a genuine scientific theory and it has at least an impressionistic resemblance to some of what was stated in the post. (Fortunately, I knew the deletion might happen and saved a copy.)
So this message is primarily for that new user - first, so they can know what happened to their essay; second, so they can get some feedback. There is a private messaging system in this forum and I am quite happy to talk privately about both the scientific and "non-scientific" issues that were raised. Perhaps there can also be some public discussion of those aspects of the "thoughts" that fall within the scope of the Cosmology forum.
There was a thread here a few minutes ago, posted by a new user, called "Thoughts about the universe". It contained reflections about gravity, information, and the universe, that were probably inspired by the holographic principle, along with some less "scientific" thoughts. Some moderator has apparently deleted it, rather than just moving it. This is unfortunate, as I was about to make some extended comments on the scientific aspects - in effect, how to understand some of the things one hears about black holes (that time stops inside them, that they swallow "information"), and also about the meaning of "holographic cosmology", in which the whole history of the universe is supposed to be equivalent to a timeless field theory at its boundary in the infinite future. This is a genuine scientific theory and it has at least an impressionistic resemblance to some of what was stated in the post. (Fortunately, I knew the deletion might happen and saved a copy.)
So this message is primarily for that new user - first, so they can know what happened to their essay; second, so they can get some feedback. There is a private messaging system in this forum and I am quite happy to talk privately about both the scientific and "non-scientific" issues that were raised. Perhaps there can also be some public discussion of those aspects of the "thoughts" that fall within the scope of the Cosmology forum.