Can a New Law of Physics Explain a Black Hole Paradox?

When the theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind encountered a head-scratching paradox about black holes, he turned to an unexpected place: computer science. In nature, most self-contained systems eventually reach thermodynamic equilibrium ... but not black holes. The interior volume of a black hole appears to forever expand without limit. But why? Susskind had a suspicion that a concept called computational complexity, which underpins everything from cryptography to quantum computing to the blockchain and AI, might provide an explanation.

He and his colleagues believe that the complexity of quantum entanglement continues to evolve inside a black hole long past the point of what’s called “heat death.” Now Susskind and his collaborator, Adam Brown, have used this insight to propose a new law of physics: the second law of quantum complexity, a quantum analogue of the second law of thermodynamics.

Also appearing in the video: Xie Chen of CalTech, Adam Bouland of Stanford and Umesh Vazirani of UC Berkeley.

00:00 Intro to a second law of quantum complexity
01:16 Entropy drives most closed systems to thermal equilibrium. Why are black holes different?
03:34 History of the concept of "entropy" and "heat death"
05:01 Quantum complexity and entanglement might explain black holes
07:32 A turn to computational circuit complexity to describe black holes
08:47 Using a block cipher and cryptography to test the theory
10:16 A new law of physics is proposed
11:23 Embracing a quantum universe leads to new insights
12:20 When quantum complexity reaches an end...the universe begins again

Thumbnail / title card image designed by Olena Shmahalo

#quantum #blackhole #physics #entanglement #computerscience #cryptography

[kronaemmanuel]

Props to the filmmaker behind this. I loved the shot where it shows 5 flowers to represent qubits, then shows the whole tree of flowers to show the exponential growth in quantum states. Damn.

[primenumberbuster]

Oh Boi, what a good day to hear from Susskind. 😂 I am a big fan of his lectures.

[prithvib]

Quanta Mag is consistently one of the highest quality channels on YouTube. Your staff are incredible.

[dr.hosamaneprabhakar]

I am not a physicist but a physician . I do not fully understand a lot of complex concepts in physics but prof Suskind has been a source of inspiration to me and any time I hear his voice it is music to my ears . As somebody put it he is a very humble genius .We are so lucky we still have him around . Nobel prize or not I t think this brilliant man is a cut above his contemporaries and he is not a politician . Kudos to Prof Suskind !

[musicman]

Wow in an alternate universe, Mike Ehrmantraut got REALLY good at physics! In all seriousness, Susskind is is amazing, one of the modern physicists I have tremendous respect for.

[JoyoSnooze]

Just discovered this channel tonight (weird, as I've had a science-centric youtube account for a long time) but, I'm very happy I have. Anything from Susskind is wonderful to ponder, but the credit really has to go to the filmmakers and animators in this video. Really, very good. Subbed.

[haroldfloyd]

It’s kind of at the heart of science that truly great thinkers like Susskind, or Ed Witten or Kip Thorne have been willing to seriously entertain seemingly crazy ideas that have subsequently opened up entirely new branches of research (like time travel and ancestor simulations).

[atallguynh]

I love that the back of Susskind's Perimeter Institute t-shirt says "it from qubit" (a variation on Wheeler's "its from bits") when the entire thrust of this idea seems to be the opposite. The "its" of the physical world fall into a black hole and essentially become just information.

[ukaszbonczol]

This is brilliant! Keep on going, you're doing a great job!

[scimastory]

one of the best and most fascinating youtube videos I've ever seen. This is actually insane how so many different interesting topics completely connect and link together like this. Amazing video. This is mind-boggling.

[marishkagrayson]

So what they are saying is that if I stare at my latte long enough, complexity will evolve? Fascinating! 😅 love Susskind, btw. He always makes “complex” ideas graspable.

[vigilanthuman]

Mike from breaking bad is a scientist 😂😂

[rikvermeer]

Always great to see Mike Ehrmantraut at work!

[NotTheEx]

This video just blew my mind. Some things just finally made sense to me. Thanks a lot for the video.

[naysay]

this was incredible. imagine having such deep intuition so naturally. he makes it look effortless.

[kA-dczq]

Susskind is a great lecturer with great ideas including this " expansion of complexity" with almost no or very far end! It hasn't proved experimentally, though. I love him. He is a great physicist.

[-_Nuke_-]

How awesome is to be in the forefront of cutting edge science?

[rbsr]

The ravens in two of the b roll shots were a nice touch alluding to death, heat death though in this case. Great information throughout.

[christopherarreola]

Man, I love hearing Leonard Susskind talk. He should do more public interviews. He has a better voice than most popular physics enthusiasts.

[xmetax]

One of the very few good science channels on YouTube.
Thumbs up for the editing which is very kind to laypeople who need a visual connection to reconcile complex ideas 👍