If I Could Talk to Black Holes

An artist’s rendering of two black holes spiraling around each other. From the NYTimes.

Imagine having all the time in the universe, yet no time at all. Those were the thoughts swimming in my head during a Physics lesson, as we learnt about the black holes swirling around in the cosmos.

Though much studied, black holes are still not fully understood by science. They are basically gargantuan pits of darkness, so dense that they can even pull light towards their event horizon. Within a black hole, as the curvature of space time becomes infinite, some theorists suggest that time freezes. If we were to fall into one, our time would end at the singularity, yet would never end for those watching. Regardless of this certain death, all I could wonder as I sat in class, was what black holes would say if they could talk.

I think black holes would be lonely beings. They may seem mythical with their defiance of the laws of physics, but at the same time, they are doomed to exist isolated in the vacuum of space. Forced to be in solitude, black holes can only send out gravitational waves as a means of connection. We, humans, thrive on our ability to communicate with others, to share ideas, to forge bonds, yet this possibility is completely out of the realm for black holes. Our antennas and telescopes might pick up remote signals from them, but we will never understand their souls from billions of light years away.

Still, hope remains. I remember reading about LIGO (Laser Interferometry Gravitational-wave Observatory)’s discovery of two black hole’s merging. The thought of two black holes finding each other in the void of the universe might be random, but joyful nonetheless. What are the chances of that happening? ChatGPT says less than 0.01 % (for a black hole to merge in a human’s lifetime). This time might not mean much to a black holes’ existence, after all they’ll stay there for eternity, but I can’t help but imagine going my whole life by myself.

The thought of a black hole inspire awe, but at the same time, sadness. They are reminders to appreciate the connections we have on earth, and to look at the sky with admiration of everything out there. I wonder how many black holes there are in the universe, all by themselves; if I could send them a message, it would be a small, “You are not alone.”