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Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by yamtaddle on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @02:40PM (#33167318)
- "Black" — self-explanatory.

- "Hole" — things fall in and don't come out (more or less).

Plus they look like holes on those 2d representations of space-time.

Seems reasonable to me.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by Maursault on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @03:00PM (#33167637)
> - "Black" — self-explanatory.

I wasn't willing to argue this before because my issue was not with the adjective. But actually black holes are not really black, they emit radiation.

> - "Hole" — things fall in and don't come out (more or less).

But things fall into any massive object like planets or stars, so "hole" is ambiguous. Things also fall out of holes, such as holes in a ceiling or screw holes.

> Plus they look like holes on those 2d representations of space-time. Seems reasonable to me.

It is a fair point to say that the hole of a black hole is a 4 dimensional hole, except that space-time is itself a 4 dimensional hole, leading to more ambiguity.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by codethief on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @03:32PM (#33168134)
> except that space-time is itself a 4 dimensional hole, leading to more ambiguity.

You keep repeating that spacetime were a hole. What makes you think that?

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by Maursault on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @04:21PM (#33168732)
Holes are made of space by definition, therefore spacetime is a hole.
Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by nahstra on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @04:48PM (#33169046)
What definition?

Definitely not true in math - if you take a circle (S^1 = { (x, y) : x^2 + y^2 == 1 }) it has a hole as defined by homotopy in the middle and there is no 'space' there. If you fill it with space you get a disk (D^2 = { (x, y) : x^2 + y^2 <= 1 }) there is no longer a hole as defined by homotopy/is contractible.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by Maursault on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:38PM (#33171689)
> What definition?

The one that defines the noun, "hole," as a hollow place in a solid body or surface.

> if you take a circle (S^1 = { (x, y) : x^2 + y^2 == 1 })

Black holes are real, but your circle can only "exist" in mathematics.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by codethief on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @10:50PM (#33172173)
> Black holes are real, but your circle can only "exist" in mathematics.

You are aware that General Relativity is about the most mathematical (and mathematically rigorous and mathematically advanced) theory we have in physics? Several predictions were made purely based upon mathematical arguments, without much physical input. So your argument that math were a "different realm" with no connection to reality is full of, uhh, holes.

In fact, I would argue mathematics is mainly a language that provides us with the precision that everyday language lacks, it's a tool that allows us to make precise arguments while ruling out logical fallacies.

In the present case it allows us to say very precisely what we mean by a hole. This definition[0] has been employed in countless predictions in physics and its usefulness has been confirmed by experiment. Meanwhile, your definition is vague at best.

[0]: Look up "simple-connectedness" or, more generally, "homotopy groups".

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by Maursault on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @11:02PM (#33172262)
> So your argument that math were a "different realm" with no connection to reality

This straw man was not my argument. My argument is that circles only exist mathematically.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by codethief on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @11:23PM (#33172411)
For this argument to work you must implicitly assume that mathematics were a different realm, with no connection to reality.

But it doesn't matter. The definition of a hole doesn't rest on the definition of a circle.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by Maursault on Wednesday October 12, 2022 @01:17AM (#33173170)
> For this argument to work you must implicitly assume that mathematics were a different realm, with no connection to reality.

No I don't, and this is still a straw man.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by codethief on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @10:42PM (#33172114)
Even if I agreed with your definition of "hole" (which I don't, compare nahstra's comment), there are two flaws in your causal chain:

1) If a hole is made of space, it doesn't follow that space is a hole.

2) Space is not spacetime.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by Maursault on Wednesday October 12, 2022 @01:30AM (#33173232)
> 1) If a hole is made of space, it doesn't follow that space is a hole.

Yes, it absolutely does, so long as there is no category error, and there is none here. The Universe is just an inconceivably large, curved hole with a tiny little bit of stuff in it.

> 2) Space is not spacetime.

Einstein and I disagree with you. Prior to Einstein's work, space and time were independent dimensions. But over 100 years ago Einstein showed that relativity of motion mathematically combines space and time into one, spacetime. For all intents and purposes, anyone talking about space today under any circumstances is also talking about spacetime, whether time is specifically mentioned or not, it is always there along with space.

Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by klvino on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @03:12PM (#33167823)
If something were to "fall" into a "Black Hole", from the object's perspective, the object would seem to "fall" for an infinite amount of time.
Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by queuebert on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:22PM (#33171562)
No, it sees the fall fairly normally. Observers see an infinitely decaying after image of the EH crossing.
Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by Maursault on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:49PM (#33171770)
I'm pretty sure it rapidly sees the end of the Universe.
Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by bobbylarrybobby on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @04:10PM (#33168610)
If you dig a hole and toss something in you don't really consider the thing part of the hole (it's in the hole, but it is not the hole) but with the "black hole" the meaning of "hole" is "the volume enclosed by the event horizon plus all the stuff inside it".
Re:Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Univ... by Maursault on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:42PM (#33171713)
Unless you dig your hole in a vacuum, there is always something filling the hole.