On 11/2/2010 6:56 PM, Darren New wrote:
> Warp wrote:
>> For one, timespace, ie. the geometry of the Universe is not energy.
>> It's the "container" where the energy in the Universe resides, in other
>> words it *contains* energy, it's not energy in itself.
>
> I don't think science has determined this. GR is background-free, so in
> a sense, space-time is a relationship between other things and nothing
> more. It's not a "something" but an effect.

It could also be that what we experience (or measure, to be more 
precise) as particles (photons, neutrons, etc.) are really just wrinkles 
in space-time.  The book _Flatland_ comes to mind for some reason.

>> (Another point which would indicate that information is not
>> energy is that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but information
>> can.)
>
> Actually, there's good reason to think information cannot be destroyed.
> That's what lead to postulating the holographic principle and hawking
> radiation. The basic problem is that the QM theories preserve certain
> kinds of information that GR does not, so matter falling into a black
> hole violates quantum mechanics in a very fundamental way.

The notion of a black hole being a singularity is probably a violation 
of QM, although I am inclined to believe that this is not the case.  But 
the fact that information cannot be retrieved (as from a black hole, 
once the media has passed within the event horizon) by no means implies 
that the information is destroyed.  Sort of like my personnel records in 
the military.  For a brief time nobody could find them, but they still 
existed.

Regards,
John

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