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Few things in the universe have a worse reputation than black holes, but physics Janna Levin hopes to change that with her new book The Black Hole Survival Guide.
“People think of black holes as dense objects and get trapped in the aspect of the ‘monster truck’, which destroys things,” Levin says in episode 442 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “And I think it belittles some of the more mysterious, austere and splendid aspects of this very strange phenomenon.”
A century of science fiction shows has conditioned us to think of black holes as eddies in space, violent eddies that stretch across the void to suck in passing spaceships. But Levin says the reality is very different and that you could fall into a black hole without even realizing it.
“If you were in an empty space with complete darkness, and you were right outside a black hole, you wouldn’t know it was there,” he says. “And if you crossed the event horizon, it wouldn’t be dramatic at all. You could float to the other side, and not really accomplish anything, because there’s nothing there. “
Despite their fearsome reputation, black holes can be safely manipulated with gravity and magnetism, and it may even be possible to draw energy from them, although doing so won’t be practical any time soon. “I once tried to imagine what it would take for a battery of black holes to power New York City,” says Levin. “I think I concluded that we should have used all the resources of the solar system, essentially. Maybe we should get it out of the moon or a giant Earth-sized magnet. It would be very, very difficult to get a lot of power out of it. “
Another possible use for black holes would be to see beyond life span. A person who flew into a supermassive black hole could survive for up to a year and would still be able to receive messages from the outside. Due to time dilation, those messages could reveal the full scope of future history.
“If you knew you have a year to live, but you want to see your grandchildren being born, you could embark on this epic journey, so that your children have time to grow up, have their own children and you can see your grandchildren born,” Levin says.
Hear the full interview with Janna Levin in episode 442 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above). And check out some discussion highlights below.
Janna Levin on publication:
“All [at the publisher] he was really excited about the concept of this sweet little book, and I think once we got there, we were all delighted at how small it is. I think it’s a really special attribute. Nobody said [it should be longer]. My people are really good people. I find they really believe in the book the way the book should be, and thankfully they don’t bend to that kind of psychology. Otherwise I don’t think I’d get anything published, if the commercial attraction was – I mean, people really think, ‘Oh, I’d like a book about whether the universe is infinite or finite. And maybe we could have a novel about mathematicians? So I feel very lucky to have those collaborators. “
Janna Levin on Pioneer Works:
“I’m the director of science there – I started science there – and we have a lot of live events, or we used to, pre-pandemic. We’d have 1,200 people shoulder to shoulder in sweltering heat – a beautiful old three-story iron factory – for a conversation about animal consciousness, or about the many worlds, or a conversation with Richard Dawkins. Of course we can’t do it now, and maybe we never will. It might be something we’ll look back in the movies and think, ‘Oh my God, can you imagine? People shoulder to shoulder like that? … The amazing thing for us was that there was such a huge audience. We weren’t sure anyone would show up when we started. ”
Janna Levin on the weapons of the black hole:
“If you put a rotating black hole in a magnetic field, it will create tremendous chaos. The jets are basically like giant ray guns, where high-energy particles – X-rays, gamma rays – are fired along these magnetic fields, creating thin jets which then burst out of the galaxy and can hit other galaxies – and we ‘actually have it. observed, presumably destroying any exoplanets that would have been in that part of that galaxy and any sentient life that was trying to emerge there. So you don’t want to be in the line of fire of a jet, because with it all the consequent biological consequences of being hit by a lot of radiation would come. … [Aiming those jets] it’s not impossible, but it’s rather complicated. “
Janna Levin on the detection of black holes:
“It could be a real navigation hazard. How would you know you were driving straight into one? You may notice this because you weren’t following the path you predicted, because your engines were no longer successfully keeping you on track and you were drifting towards something, and you would start to notice that you were off course. So it would be a way to notice it, but if you happened to go straight towards it, and it was completely unlit by any background light, you wouldn’t necessarily know. … If you were floating close enough, you could plausibly hear it, even in a vacuum, because your eardrum would wobble in response to the [gravitational] greets more readily than the rest of you. “
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