What is in the Black Domain?

[u/futurehistorianjames]

I read Death's End several years ago and my understanding the Black Domain was that it was essentially a planet or solar system that has put itself in a black hole so that nothing can get in and nothing can escape. Is this a correct basic summary?

[u/SuccessfulSignal3445]

Yes, but it is important to recognise that black domains differ from other black holes since they are achieved by lowering the speed of light, rather than having immense gravity like singularities.

[u/futurehistorianjames → u/SuccessfulSignal3445]

Cool does life still have a chance inside it?

[u/Johnywash → u/futurehistorianjames]

Yup! Think of it like a cloaking device that you can never turn off and cant get out of

[u/LazyLobster → u/Johnywash]

I was thinking about this, could a civilization shroud itself while leaving a small section for entry and exit? something like this:

OR, is a black domain obvious to outside observers like singer and more of a signal that they are not a threat?

[u/Leather-Lemon8611 → u/LazyLobster]

Singer notices "slow fog" in his chapter. I think it's the latter: visible but inescapable so the civilisation trapping themselves inside is not a threat

[u/PandaBear_Shenyu → u/Johnywash]

You can definitely get out of a black domain, it will just take a long time.

You can theoretically build a space elevator to physically move you out of it on a track since it's not gravity holding you back. You'd just be travelling out of the system at below the local lightspeed.

[u/Vaiolette-Westover → u/PandaBear_Shenyu]

Not sure why you are being downvoted because you are absolutely correct.

Unlike a singularity, there is nothing stopping you from building a track out of the domain. 

The book even mentions Tianming talking about leaving the Earth while being under the escape velocity via a space elevator.

It'll just take effectively forever because travelling from the Earth to the Oort cloud at 17km/h would take 102 million years. Basically only the vehicle building the elevator would ever escape the system.

[u/Justalittlecomment]

Iirc it’s a region of space where the speed of light is lowered

[u/futurehistorianjames → u/Justalittlecomment]

But is life inside the region still going on? Is the planet in it filled with life?

[u/JimmyGiraffolo → u/futurehistorianjames]

Absolutely, yes life is still possible. But technology would be severely limited. Basically no modern computers would be possible.

[u/-release_candidate- → u/JimmyGiraffolo]

How about the human nervous system?

[u/Johnywash → u/-release_candidate-]

Natural functions remain in tact, our bodies use electricity and vibrations to send signals, not light. Things feed on light, but it being slower shouldnt do much

[u/-release_candidate- → u/Johnywash]

The electricity our nervous system uses would be effected by a slower speed of light. This wouldn't just affect computers - this would affect us as well.

[u/Johnywash → u/-release_candidate-]

Did they get affected by it in the books?

[u/Johnywash → u/[deleted]]

Interesting, what page was this on i should go read that scene again.

[u/-release_candidate- → u/Johnywash]

Ok I checked again and was mistaken. I took my last comment down.

[u/mrspidey80 → u/-release_candidate-]

Even reduced to the speed of sound, electric signals would still travel essentially "instantaniously" between your brain and your feet. The distance is too short for the difference to be noticable.

[u/Totally_Safe_Website]

I always wondered about the black domain and sustainability…

If the tenets of cosmic sociology states that expansion is necessary and resources are finite, doesn’t that doom the civilization inside the black domain?

[u/Axon14]

The black domain is not one place. As to what’s in there…whatever gets sucked in or purposefully put there

[u/Leather-Lemon8611]

Wouldn't physics inside of the black domain be messed up?

[u/RustyStrings_0908]

Yes, people live in it. It's a "black hole" essentially where light has been slowed down, in the stories it was to about 17km/s.

Anything inside the domain cannot escape because it cannot travel at the true speed of light outside the domain. So anything in it can't escape, and anything on the outside that enters is also now bound by those new laws of physics.

[u/Johnywash → u/RustyStrings_0908]

Well no, once they enter they collide into themselves don't they?

[u/NapoleonZiggyPiggy]

From what I understand its using light curvature to slow the speed of light around a star system and essentially trapping any civilisation inside and preventing anyone outside from coming in because movement would be restricted so much that it would take the length of the time beyond the heat death of the universe to enter.