Ask A Genius 1456: Quantum Limits, Information Theory, and the Need for a New Physics Paradigm
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/07/15
Rick Rosner explores how anomalies at the edge of observation—like black holes—challenge the compatibility of quantum mechanics and general relativity. He questions the completeness of current models, proposing a new conceptual container for information and physics itself. Without such a framework, our understanding of the universe may remain fundamentally incomplete.
Rick Rosner: Exceptions to well-established scientific theories often emerge in regions difficult to observe or explore. As anomalies accumulate, they may necessitate revising the prevailing theory—this captures Thomas Kuhn’s model of scientific revolutions and paradigm shifts.
New evidence tends to arise from inaccessible contexts, which explains why it remains undiscovered for extended periods.
Consider quantum mechanics. Our understanding fails near black holes, where extreme gravity distorts spacetime. We still lack a full account of what happens to information in such regions.
One of the major unresolved problems in physics is reconciling general relativity, which governs gravity and large-scale structures, with quantum mechanics, which describes microscopic particles. These theories remain incompatible in extreme environments such as black hole singularities.
Another conceptual challenge in quantum mechanics involves boundary conditions. Introductory models like the “particle in a box” confine a particle within an idealized potential well. The boundaries are well-defined, and the particle’s behavior is mathematically predictable.
The particle can be excited—given more energy—potentially enough to escape the well. An edge function defines the boundary and depth. This model is analytically solvable and illustrates core quantum principles, but it is highly simplified.
While I am not a quantum physicist, I suspect the current formulation of quantum mechanics—though effective—is incomplete. It often relies on assumptions that may not reflect reality’s underlying nature.
We may be missing a unifying framework: a broader conceptual or informational container that encompasses both quantum mechanics and general relativity.
This container might also define the context for information itself. We take such a framework for granted, much like the rules of a game.
In blackjack, for example, information consists of known cards—your hand and the dealer’s visible card. The context—the rules—is clear and mutually agreed upon.
But in the universe, the “game” we play with information lacks obvious rules. We might say, “the universe is made of information,” but in what context does that information exist? And what do we mean by “information” at a fundamental level?
It seems plausible that subatomic interactions—such as those between protons and electrons in a star—do not constitute “information” in a meaningful sense unless they produce observable or lasting changes. Without a lasting imprint or transfer, such interactions may not qualify as information from an informational physics perspective.
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