# Interesting new theory about gravity - Gravity Emerges from Quantum Information, Say Physicists" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 17, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664 "2011-09-17T21:57:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664/1 "2011-09-17T21:57:34Z")
[Gravity Emerges from Quantum Information, Say Physicists](http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24975/) > [@](#): > > One of the hottest new ideas in physics is that gravity is an emergent phenomena; that it somehow arises from the complex interaction of simpler things. > > A few month’s ago, Erik Verlinde at the the University of Amsterdam put forward one such idea which has taken the world of physics by storm. Verlinde suggested that gravity is merely a manifestation of entropy in the Universe. His idea is based on the second law of thermodynamics, that entropy always increases over time. It suggests that differences in entropy between parts of the Universe generates a force that redistributes matter in a way that maximises entropy. This is the force we call gravity. > > What’s exciting about the approach is that it dramatically simplifies the theoretical scaffolding that supports modern physics. And while it has its limitations–for example, it generates Newton’s laws of gravity rather than Einstein’s–it has some advantages too, such as the ability to account for the magnitude of dark energy which conventional theories of gravity struggle with. > > But perhaps the most powerful idea to emerge from Verlinde’s approach is that gravity is essentially a phenomenon of information. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664/2 "2011-09-17T22:16:40Z")
Never mind. In reading more it’s more an interesting idea than a theory. [A Scientist Takes On Gravity](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html) ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664/3 "2011-09-18T05:23:33Z")
What a let down. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664/4 "2011-09-18T05:44:55Z")
A facinating let down, though. Tris ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664/5 "2011-09-18T16:32:24Z")
“Verlinde’s approach is that gravity is essentially a phenomenon of information.” I was hoping that were true, so that stupid people would just eventually all float away. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664/6 "2011-09-18T18:40:31Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > “Verlinde’s approach is that gravity is essentially a phenomenon of information.” > > I was hoping that were true, so that stupid people would just eventually all float away. Ah, but that wouldn’t happen. You see, the stupid people are _dense_ and would just collapse into a giant ball of stupid. This, of course, would make it much easier to be sucked past the event horizon of the giant ball of stupid. Then you’d be screwed. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664/7 "2011-09-18T18:49:40Z")
Wow. Dude. That’s really heavy. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-theory-about-gravity-gravity-emerges-from-quantum-information-say-physicists/596664/8 "2011-09-18T21:14:05Z")
Long ago, when a PC was a peach crisp, and Mac was a Scotsman, you could buy buttons and bumper stickers proclaiming, “There is no gravity. The world sucks.”