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Gravity seems holographic. What does that mean for reality?

300 points · 234 comments · ibobev

  1. criddell · · focus · HN ↗
    > You can “compress all of the three-dimensional world into two dimensions.”

    That sounds a little like the sophons in the novel Three Body Problem. IIRC, aliens took a photon, unfolded it to a flat surface to etch circuitry on, then folded it back up and fired the photon at earth where it unfolded again and did the bidding of the aliens.

    > you can decipher the entire contents of the box just by repeatedly measuring points on the surface

    So if the box is both inside and outside of a black hole, is that a path for information to leave a black hole?

    1. boie0025 · · focus · HN ↗
      I immediately thought of the painter analogy (from the books which are astonishingly good) of "painting" 3D objects into 2D objects from the stories, and wondered if the author was exploring the reverse of this "perfect painting" that is still "functional". I'm definitely a lay person, I know enough physics to use a lever to lift heavy things.
    2. colordrops · · focus · HN ↗
      Different topic, but the sophon idea in TBP revealed the author's complete ignorance of basic particle physics.
      1. misnome · · focus · HN ↗
        …it’s Science Fiction
        1. colordrops · · focus · HN ↗
          More like space opera is my point. Science fiction projects out into the future to extrapolate from current science, it doesn't invent a parallel reality that is contradictory with already understood science.
          1. ByThyGrace · · focus · HN ↗
            There's no hard scifi story that doesn't have a big (often understated) magical physics moment. The harder it gets, the more understated the miracle. I would argue it's the very existence of this crucial violation of the Standard Model (and even current day alternates) that makes any of those stories compelling. They're what drive all the other actually realistic events forward.

            I'm not claiming TBP is hard scifi btw. But the reveal which OP has spoiled already makes for a sick scene and pivotal point in the book.

            1. colordrops · · focus · HN ↗
              It just struck more as a Marvel style ending than an Arthur C Clark style ending.

              Was it just one violation of the standard model? It seems like it was referencing the pre-quantum classical model of protons, before we even knew about quarks.

        2. int_19h · · focus · HN ↗
          It's touted as "hard science fiction" but it's riddled with this kind of stuff.
    3. rkagerer · · focus · HN ↗
      I think by definition if part of you is in a black hole, the bits inside it can't affect (or communicate information to) your bits that are outside.
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