Can Information Escape a Black Hole?
We often think of black holes as inescapable, but viewed through the lens of quantum information theory, there can be some exceptions. In the 1990s, the theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind struck a bet with Stephen Hawking about whether information can escape a black hole. Co-host Janna Levin speaks with Susskind about this “black hole war” and how the lessons learned about the black hole information paradox have propelled modern physics.
The Joy of Why · Steven Strogatz, Janna Levin and Quanta Magazine
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Show Notes
Nothing escapes a black hole… or does it? In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking described a subtle process by which black holes can “evaporate,” with some particles evading gravitational oblivion. This phenomenon, now dubbed “Hawking radiation,” seems inherently at odds with general relativity, but it gets weirder still: If particles can escape, do they preserve some information about the matter that was obliterated? Leonard Susskind, a physicist at Stanford University, found himself at odds with Hawking when it came to answering this question. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin speaks with Susskind about the “black hole war” that ensued and the powerful scientific lessons that have radiated from one of the most famous paradoxes in physics.