Re: Bekenstein Bound (was: Crypto and new computing strategies)

[ph@netcom.com (Peter Hendrickson)]

Jim Choate writes:
>> 
>> The Deutsch paper I quoted before was where I first heard of the Bekenstein
>> Bound which Eric Hughes mentioned.  According to Deutsch:
>> 
>> "If the theory of the thermodynamics of black holes is trustworthy, no
>> system enclosed by a surface with an appropriately defined area A can have
>> more than a finite number ...

> The problem I see with this is that there is no connection between a
> black holes mass and surface area (it doesn't have one). In
> reference to the 'A' in the above, is it the event horizon? A funny
> thing about black holes is that as the mass increases the event
> horizon gets larger not smaller (ie gravitational contraction).

If I read the quote correctly, the surface area of the black hole
itself is not under discussion.  Rather, whether it can be contained
in a surface with some area, which it can be.

Peter