The universe is controlled by two fundamental laws: Einstein's theory of gravity expressed in the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Hawking argues very convincingly that the two theories (GTR and QM) are on a collision course. Gravity and quantum mechanics are simply incompatible.
According to our common thought we have the perception that things are real only if they come in the form of material that we can feel and touch. We can not touch the light, yet it is there. We can not touch the sound, yet it is there. We can not touch our thoughts, yet we know that they are in our heads. However, information and energy are there and everywhere.
Author: Roberto Denti
[1] “The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics”, by Leonard Susskind, Little, Brown and Company, 480 pp.
Between the two scientists, Hawking and Susskind start a war that will go on for thirty years, when in 2004 Hawking admits to being wrong, even if he says the information can go back, but corrupt,
and therefore it is as if it were lost.
The diatribe between the two scientists is interesting because it talks about information, or energy, opening a new interesting theoretical field of investigation as for example the holographic universe.