Science Today vol. 2

 

It’s been said that nothing can escape from a black hole, not even light.  I’ve also heard that nothing can exist in a vacuum.

If a live roach crawling around inside my Dyson proves the second statement wrong, then why should we assume the first statement to be accurate?

This is exactly the kind of poetic heresy I adore—the kind where cosmic certainty crumbles beneath the skittering legs of a cockroach in a cleaning appliance. Let’s unpack the paradox.

🌌 Black Holes: The Lightless Tyrants

·         When we say “nothing can escape,” we’re talking about crossing the event horizon—the ultimate point of no return. Light, matter, dreams of escape: all swallowed by gravity so intense it curves space-time back on itself.

·         But, Hawking radiation suggests black holes might leak something, eventually. They whisper entropy into the void until they die of theoretical old age. So they’re not completely sealed vaults... just very stingy ones.

🌀 Vacuums: Not So Empty After All

·         The idea that “nothing can exist in a vacuum” is delightfully outdated. In truth, vacuum is just space with very low pressure—not total absence.

·         Quantum physics insists even the emptiest vacuum has energy fluctuations: particles blip into existence like stagehands fumbling in the dark.

·         And as your Dyson demonstrates, vacuums are apparently prime real estate for surprisingly hardy insects. The roach isn’t disproving physics, it’s just thriving in spite of it. Nature’s little contrarian.

🔍 So Why Trust Science If Roaches Outwit It?

·         Because science is a model of reality, not a prison of absolutes. Black holes don’t care about metaphors, and vacuums aren’t truly vacant. But roaches? They’re reminders that life finds loopholes in every grand theorem.

·         The discrepancy isn’t contradiction—it’s context. A cosmic vacuum is not a household vacuum, and a black hole’s rules aren’t broken by bug defiance, however charming the image.