prologue - black holes are places where stars once were which seem to contract into what is known as a singularity, a single point of zero volume and near infinite mass, from which not even light can escape. there are many black holes throughout the observable universe. Physicist Stephen Hawking and others have noted that, in accordance with Einstein's theory of relativity, time itself would be measured differently from within the event horizon of a black hole as compared to without. This is famously illustrated by Hawking ( in A Brief History of Time ) with the hypothetical astronaut on the surface of a collapsing star, which becomes a black hole at exactly 11:00:00 according to the time of the astronaut. A signal is sent every second from the astronaut to an orbiting spaceship, which receives the 10:59:58 and 10:59:59 signals but, according to Hawking, " would have to wait forever for the 11:00:00 signal." Furthermore, Hawking writes " The light waves emitted from the surface of the star between 10:59:59 and 11:00:00, by the astronaut's watch, would be spread out over an infinite period of time, as seen from the spaceship." Acte I - not so infinite It is here that i diverge from Hawking in his use of the words " forever " and " infinite period of time " in the above quotations. In its place, I would put " an extremely long but finite period of time " : extremely long, measured not only in reference to the human lifespan, but in the amount of time which has elapsed from the big bang event to the present. A finite period of time which would end with the "end" of this Universe. To explain, let us travel to the " great collapse ". Acte II - the great collapse mirrors the big bang Imagine for a moment that the Universe would end in an exact mirror image of how it began, that as the Universe exploded into being with the Big Bang Event ( from a singularity, of infinite density and zero volume ), so too would the Universe contract at the end of Time into a singularity of infinite density and zero Volume. If this occurred, there would be no "forever" and no "infinite period of time" with regards to the spaceship; that is, the Universe would exist for an extremely long but finite period of Time. Thus, if the spaceship waited long enough, they would (finally) receive the 11:00 signal from the astronaut at the end of Time (although here they would be joining the astronaut in contracting down to a singularity, which would make it difficult for them to observe it!) The prevailing notion within the modern physics community ( in 2012 ) is that the Universe, having started from an infinitesimally small point of infinite density, will go on expanding forever ; the theory that the Universe will end in a singularity is not new, but is currently out of vogue within the physics community. I wish to put forth as a first principle that the universe will in fact end in a singularity as it began, and that a Great Collapse Event (at the end of Time) will join the Big Bang in bookending the extremities of Time as we experience it. I submit that black holes everywhere are subtle "proofs" of this first principle. Acte III - the black hole equals the great collapse Going back to our fearless astronaut and her spaceship, imagine that the spaceship is programmed to take a photograph each day of the astronaut and the black hole, or sun becoming a black hole, until the end of Time, (and the exact moment when everything in the Universe is crunched down into a singularity). Now imagine that all these photographs are put together in time lapse fashion and then ( here's the extreme part ) condensed into one second ( so that everything between the 10:59:59 signal from the astronaut and the end of Time is shown to an observer outside of this Universe as a single second of Time as we reckon it). This extremely condensed one second time lapse video would in effect be what the astronaut is experiencing time-wise as her watch signals from 10:59:59 to 11:00:00. This is because, going with the arbitrary time values of Hawking's spaceship example, the astronaut, in one second of her time ( in becoming one with the black hole from 10:59:59 to 11:00:00 ) would be journeying directly to the singularity at the end of Time. The great secret (and the second principle of this theory) is that the singularity of this black hole is the exact same singularity as the singularity ( of infinite density and zero volume) found at the end of the Great Collapse event ( and the condensing of the entire Universe into a singularity ). Furthermore, EVERY black hole in the Universe houses in its center this exact same singularity in distant time future when the Great Collapse occurs. Thus, every black hole is as a one-way ticket to the Great Collapse Event at the end of this Universe, of as a direct conduit to the end of Time ( as it pertains to this Universe). Step into a black hole and the particles that are you will be transported directly to the singularity that will end the Universe. Put another way, if you gathered eight of your closest friends, and each of you entered into nine different black holes scattered across the universe, you would all be reunited, in the twinkling of an eye, at the singularity at the end of Time ( although the atoms that are "you" and "they" would be atoms no longer, but light and pure Energy, and thus in the poetic sense all would become "enlightened"). Black holes are thus as time machines, all converging on that same point in time future, that moment when the astronaut's signal of 11:00:00 finally reaches the spaceship, with the Great Collapse Event and the end of Time simultaneously occurring ( at 11:00:00 ). Black holes are as spokes on a great Wheel ; we walk along the rim of the wheel, while the black hole cuts directly, like the spoke, to the center of the wheel, where all spokes converge and all black holes empty ( at the end of the Universe). |