Before the big bang there was a singularity.
Well, that's as good a theory of "life, the universe. and everything", as I've ever heard.(y)
Unfortunately, as an entity which can only truly prove that all things are finite, the existence of an infinity, requires the existence of a God, and/or the existence of a space in which to contain all space. But yes, if "E" does equal "M * C^2", then a black hole should indeed have the ability to turn energy back into matter, which turns the "entire everything" into a potentially infinite loss less system. As to what the gravitational threshold which could cause that reintegration might be, it is difficult to imagine.
I have had a course in astronomy, in which the instructor focused heavily on stellar physics. I don't know how much I actually absorbed, but I do remember the temperatures, pressures, and relative weight of mass being influenced by the the two former, were quite staggering. I remember s*** piles of zeroes and exponents into double digits trailing the numbers which were being tossed around.
As to the issue of gravity waves....hmmmm. We have differed in the past over how, what, why, what's to gain, and which or all the the seven deadly sins powers human ulterior motivation. I think if you spend all that money for a research tool of that expense and complexity, there is a genuine need, verily an imperative, to find a gravity wave laying around somewhere.
I find that somehow, it is the most serendipitous coincidence one could possibly imagine, that we were able to time the completion of this facility, to correlate with the arrival of a "gravity wave", 1.3 billion years old. I mean, even plus or minus a couple of decades, represents a virtually immeasurable percentage differential. That's timing, par excellence. And we thought Mussolini was good because he made the railroads run on time..
At any rate, I'm still pissed because a few publicity and grant seeking hot dogs, decided to hijack the front page by declaring Pluto was no longer a planet.. Now, if I've heard correctly, they made some mistake in their calculations, and one day Pluto could be a planet once again. And.......they're right back on the front page when or if that happens.
I am indeed a misanthrope, and perhaps a bit of a sociopath myself, which does two things, either I recognize self serving, manipulative ways in others, or I miss the good which might be lurking there. In truth, I don't come close to believing the two concepts are mutually exclusive.
Albert Einstein was correct about most everything he ever said with respect to the physical world. So, if he said there should be gravity waves, there likely are. As to whether we really found them this time, I'm not as certain.
Besides, I thought the only thing singularities were good for, is powering Romulan spaceships.
I suppose I could have chosen "captaincynical", or, "captainskeptical" as a screen name. But I went with "Cranky", because of the forced rhyming caused by the hard "C", ("K" sound), in both words.
