The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes

by Donald D. Hoffman

of light, it is no longer possible for light, or information, to paddle upstream fast enough to escape. This is the event horizon of the black hole, the divide between the outside, where light can escape, and the inside, where escape is not possible. According to Einstein, a cat falling through the event horizon would, if the black hole is big enough, experience nothing unusual. Eventually, as the cat plunged toward the center of the black hole, it would be “spaghettified,” stretched beyond recognition by the rapidly changing force of gravity. But at the horizon it would just float on through, unaware that its fate was sealed. According to Einstein, the cat and all its information coast across the event horizon never to be seen again. Then, when the black hole evaporates, so does all information about the cat. Quantum theory says that information is never destroyed. General relativity says that it can cross an event horizon and be erased. This is a serious paradox.