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Levin Argues Gravity May Not Be Fundamental But Emergent From Quantum Mechanics

Theories of Everything · Janna Levin: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Klein Bottle · May 11, 2026
Levin Argues Gravity May Not Be Fundamental But Emergent From Quantum Mechanics
Theories of Everything
Theories of Everything
Janna Levin: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Klein Bottle
"I think a lot of these people now think maybe it's not fundamental. Maybe it's really just quantum mechanics all the way down. And again, going back to AdS/CFT, I can describe the entire universe just in terms of quantum field theory with no gravity whatsoever, none. And that is an equivalent dictionary on the boundary to the universe in the box with gravity."
Levin contends that gravity may be an emergent thermodynamic phenomenon rather than a fundamental force, with the entire universe potentially describable through quantum mechanics alone. She cites AdS/CFT correspondence as evidence that gravitational spacetime might be a higher-dimensional illusion emerging from lower-dimensional quantum field theory, fundamentally challenging Einstein's general relativity as bedrock physics.
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Theories of Everything
Theories of Everything

Janna Levin: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Klein Bottle

August 3, 2026 · 5 Egleze moments
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