Questions Regarding the Destruction Of Information

[antimatter]

I recently read a thread about information, and it got me thinking.

Can information be totally destroyed? Several people I ask said no, but while wondering about this, I was also reading a bit about black holes, and I was thinking, couldn't black holes completely destroy information?

What about the information released in Hawking Radiation, could it be pieced back together somehow? Or is it completely scrambled?

I apologize if this has been asked before, I had a thread before about black holes, and I asked this question, but the only answer I got was "google it".

Thanks for any answers

[ecoli]

how are you defining information here...

 

If I smash a hard drive, or demagnetize it, the stored information will be lost, even though the matter that encoded that info will still be around.

[antimatter]

The matter, the molecules, I'm thinking information on a smaller scale.

But yeah, smashing a hard drive would do the job for the information you're thinking.

[Klaynos]

Time for a wp page...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_information_paradox

 

The information comes out again but muddled...

[antimatter]

Yeah, but is it possible to piece it together?

I had already read the article

Edited June 4, 2008 by antimatter

[Klaynos]

Possible of feasible? All the information is still there...

[antimatter]

Possible.

 

Is there any method of obtaining it from the radiation?

 

It says in the link that information could be recovered, but could it be pieced together?

Edited June 4, 2008 by antimatter

[Klaynos]

I honestly don't know.

 

I would assume if you gathered all the information over all time AND had an understanding of quantum gravity then you would be able to....