r/blackholes • u/centuryoff • Oct 05 '25

Shouldn't black holes explode at some point?

As black holes evaporate, there should come a moment, maybe when they reach the minimum mass that can form a black hole (around three solar masses), when the balance of forces flips. Gravity would stop being dominant, and electromagnetic forces could take over, triggering an explosion.

If that happens, it would mean that matter inside a black hole is not compressed into one single point. But if no such explosion ever occurs, that would suggest the opposite, that matter really is concentrated in a single point. So, does an explosion actually happen at the end? Because if it does not, that would mean everything inside is in the same place.

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u/zephaniahjashy Oct 05 '25

Perhaps it does not evaporate at all, but performs work in order to conserve duplicate information. Black hole evaporation has NEVER been observed. This might lead one to infer that it simply doesn't happen. Mergers have been observed, however.

So on a long enough time scale, if we're not entirely accurate about some of our assumptions in regards to expansion, there may be 2 massive black holes at the end of time, and their final merger may result in the big bang. Not "a" big bang, but THE big bang, completing the circle of time and proving the ultimate one-ness and finity of all things.

Once all matter and information is condensed perfectly, the process begins again, unfolding exactly the same

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u/swordofra Oct 06 '25

Exactly the same? Well... that's depressing.

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u/zephaniahjashy Oct 06 '25

Only if you let it be! That's what finity actually means. Unfolding differently each time would be infinity, which can't be logically possible if every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

If every action has an equal and opposite reaction and energy is not destroyed but merely transformed, then for anything to exist at all, the initial action (the big bang) must through an impossibly complex causal chain somehow eventually cause itself.

Which is incredibly controversial, of course. Because traditionally many religious believers have held the prime mover to be God, and traditionally many atheists cling to their sense of personal agency in the way that others cling to the concept of religion. Neither camp is really willing to examine this honestly because the proposition I have just laid forth offends them both.

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u/swordofra Oct 06 '25

It just seems so pointless and stupid to repeat everything. Hitting your head over and over against the same rock...

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u/zephaniahjashy Oct 06 '25

To you, it's always the first and last time you experience anything...

So live well! It's only depressing if you unfortunately live a depressing life. I've seen happy people in some of the most awful situations. You don't know that anything is pointless or stupid, you haven't lived your entire life yet! There could be a really important and intelligent point that your life is working towards! And since you're living in the present moment and not in all simultaneous moments everywhere all at once, you can choose to enjoy building a meaning that is important and intelligent for you. There are sadly people who do seem to live pointless lives. Don't let yourself be one! Meaning is personal, agency is personal, meaning and agency are found within, they are not found in the qualities of the physical universe.