At the beginning of his career, Stephen Hawking asserted that black holes break all physical laws. Yet following his assertion was the subsequent “discovery” of black holes at the center of galaxies. Today’s leading cosmologists, including Hawking himself, now doubt that they exist, leaving the rest of us with a lot of catching up to do. But if black holes are mistakes, how should they be corrected? The answer to this question is hotly debated on IAI TV, in a recent debate entitled “Bang Goes Another Theory of the Universe” (see below).
The debate is hosted by David Malone, who is joined by physicists Laura Mersini-Houghton and Pedro Ferreira, and astronomer Michael Rowan-Robinson. Mersini-Houghton argues that stars will in fact “explode, not implode,” negating the need for black holes. Conversely, Ferreira contends that there is “overwhelming evidence” that black holes exist, and that we would be wrong to ignore it. With a completely different approach, Rowan-Robinson argues that physics is moving away from making predictions, taking a “speculative” turn which disconnects us from reality in the process, along with any hope of a conclusive black hole theory. Must our theories dissolve inside black holes? Find out in “Bang Goes Another Theory of the Universe,” where experts in the field battle it out once and for all.
— by the Institute of Art and Ideas. Catch more IAI content on: www.iai.tv
