- #1
ianfort
- 5
- 0
So, I remember once watching a lecture series on relativity. In one of the lectures which discussed black holes, the lecturer spoke of what it would be like to actually fall into the black hole. Of course, he did the whole talk about the outside observer seeing the person falling in slowing to a stop as he approached the event horizon, while the person falling in feels himself falling at normal speed for the entire trip. Pretty standard stuff. But then the lecturer said something that somewhat bothered me: if the person were to cross the event horizon, they'd be in the infinite future. Maybe the lecturer was trying to get the point across that anything that goes on beyond is incomprehensible, but the claim is still so illogical I feel it needs addressing. I also would like to propose what the person would actually see when crossing.
Traveling infinity years into the future (or infinity days, or infinity seconds, or infinity anything for that matter) simply doesn't make sense. Certainly time might extend into infinity, that but just means it keeps going. If you keep going, well, you keep going, and going, and going. No matter how long you go on for, you won't be any closer to the end, because there is no end. Leaping an infinite distance in a finite amount of time is akin to finding the last digit of pi. It simply can't happen.
So, then: what does happen when the person crosses the event horizon? Well, to put it simply: he doesn't. I'm pretty sure black holes lose their mass over eons, so as the person approaches the event horizon, it will shrink before their eyes, and finally vanish. In essence, falling into the black hole will transport them to the instant of the black hole's annihilation. If he survived the black hole, he will very likely commit suicide shortly afterward, for everyone he ever knew, and all of the human race in addition, will be gone.
Has this conclusion been proposed before?
Traveling infinity years into the future (or infinity days, or infinity seconds, or infinity anything for that matter) simply doesn't make sense. Certainly time might extend into infinity, that but just means it keeps going. If you keep going, well, you keep going, and going, and going. No matter how long you go on for, you won't be any closer to the end, because there is no end. Leaping an infinite distance in a finite amount of time is akin to finding the last digit of pi. It simply can't happen.
So, then: what does happen when the person crosses the event horizon? Well, to put it simply: he doesn't. I'm pretty sure black holes lose their mass over eons, so as the person approaches the event horizon, it will shrink before their eyes, and finally vanish. In essence, falling into the black hole will transport them to the instant of the black hole's annihilation. If he survived the black hole, he will very likely commit suicide shortly afterward, for everyone he ever knew, and all of the human race in addition, will be gone.
Has this conclusion been proposed before?