- #1
- 11,308
- 8,736
Searches of PF archives for Information Conservation turn up many threads in which the question is more or less dismissed. It sounds like many PF regulars don't believe in it, as if it were fringe science or metaphysics. Contrast that with the prominence given to the recent thread Stephen Hawking offers new resolution of black hole paradox. Pity the poor layman. It is hard to imagine scientific views being more polarized on a physics topic.
My interest in this topic was renewed by this article by Ethan Seigel that I saw today. It said:
A PF Insights article on Information would be very welcome if a simple reply to this thread is not enough. Even a link to an external layman's article would be welcome.
My interest in this topic was renewed by this article by Ethan Seigel that I saw today. It said:
The problem with black holes is with the information that goes into them. In the Universe as we understand it, there are certain properties of matter and energy that contain information. A particle like a proton or an electron contains not only a mass, an electric charge and a spin, but also other quantum properties like baryon number, lepton number, weak hypercharge, color charge, and quantum entanglements connecting one particle to another. If you form a black hole out of a whole host of particles (it normally takes some 10^58 of them), each with their own unique properties, including not just protons and electrons but also neutrons, photons, neutrinos, antineutrinos, positrons and more, you expect that information to meaningfully make its way into the black hole.
I would like to start simple. The most often heard phrase heard in dismissals of the question in PF threads seems to be "It depends on how you define information." The next most common is diversion into discussions of entropy. Therefore, before asking questions about information conservation, I need a scientific consensus definition of information suitable to the context of conservation and the black hole paradox. Can someone please help me with this?
A PF Insights article on Information would be very welcome if a simple reply to this thread is not enough. Even a link to an external layman's article would be welcome.
Last edited by a moderator: