IF INFORMATION IS NEVER LOST ... According to quantum mechanics, information that falls into a black hole will not be lost forever. Even after the black hole explodes, the information contained in it can still be recovered. If information cannot be lost, each particle that escapes from a black hole must be linked to another particle that escaped earlier.

AND SPACE-TIME IS SMOOTH ... According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, particles pass smoothly over the threshhold of a black hole. If the particle were a person, he or she would experience “no drama” at the border. In order for space-time to be smooth, each particle that leaves a black hole must be linked to another particle inside the black hole.

THERE IS A PARADOX! Particles can have only one link. When forced to choose between the two laws, physicists have generally sided with the idea that information is never lost. If an exiting particle must be linked to a partner outside the black hole, it will have to break the link with its partner inside. The energy released in these breaks would create a “firewall” — a ring of fire around the black hole that violates the theory

of “no drama.”