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Gravity seems holographic. What does that mean for reality?

300 points · 234 comments · ibobev

  1. glenstein · · focus · HN ↗
    As a non expert who's just curious about science but also tries to talk like a normal person, from what I can tell holography really seems like it's now the leading candidate to be the next big conceptual revolution in physics.

    There's not necessarily any breakthrough right around the corner and we shouldn't rush to coronation preemptively, but there's a lot of physics "voting with their feet" for holography as the article says, and I think it's officially time to start getting hyped. It could have sanity-restoring answers to questions of quantum weirdness, albeit at the rather expensive cost of giving up even more on our day to day intuitions about space and time in favor of an apparently informational substrate.

    String theory had a generation of great science communicators writing its books and singing its praises, but holography doesn't yet have equivalent public champions, and I hope that's something that changes sooner than later.

    1. itishappy · · focus · HN ↗
      > String theory had a generation of great science communicators writing its books and singing its praises...

      I would argue that has done more harm than good. Strong media personalities shouting "the next big breakthrough is here!" followed by 25 years of zero practical results have not done good things for public perception of field of physics. A layperson could be mistaken for assuming the field is literally regressing.

      1. empressplay · · focus · HN ↗
        > could be mistaken

        Could be forgiven?

        1. itishappy · · focus · HN ↗
          Yes, thanks!

          Damnit, I rewrote that sentence twice and still got it wrong.

          1. danparsonson · · focus · HN ↗
            You could be mistaken for that
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