Gravity is supposed to be the most familiar force in nature, yet at the deepest level it remains the least understood. A bold new line of research now argues that gravity is not fundamental at all, but instead emerges from entropy, the tendency of information to spread out and disorder to grow. If that idea holds up, it could finally give physicists a single framework that treats Einstein’s smooth spacetime and quantum theory’s jittery particles as two sides of the same informational coin.
Rather than tweaking Einstein’s equations or adding new particles, this approach rewrites gravity as a bookkeeping rule for quantum information. In that picture, the universe curves and clumps not because of an invisible force field, but because it is relentlessly trying to maximize entropy. The stakes are enormous: the same mathematics that explains why a hot cup of coffee cools down could, in principle, explain black holes, the expansion of the cosmos, and the elusive bridge between quantum mechanics and general relativity.
From spacetime geometry to quantum information
The most concrete version of this idea comes from a new framework in which the action that governs gravity is built directly from entropy. In classical physics, the action is a quantity that tells you which path a system prefers to take. In the new proposal, the action for gravity is defined as a quantum relative entropy that measures the mismatch between the metric of spacetime and the metric induced by the quantum fields living inside it, a construction described in detail in a recent study. Instead of treating geometry and matter as separate ingredients, the geometry itself becomes a kind of statistical summary of the underlying quantum information.
In practical terms, that means the familiar curvature of spacetime is recast as a measure of how much the quantum state of matter deviates from a reference configuration. The same work shows how this entropic action can reproduce Einstein’s equations in the right limit while also encoding quantum corrections that are expected to appear at very small scales, suggesting a path toward a unified theory of quantum gravity on both microscopic and cosmic distances, as highlighted in a companion analysis. By tying curvature to information, the theory tries to make gravity a natural outgrowth of quantum mechanics rather than an awkward bolt-on.
Physicist Ginestra Bianconi’s entropic gravity vision
At the center of this push is Physicist Ginestra Bianconi, who has been arguing that gravity should be understood as emerging from quantum information entropy itself. In her formulation, the universe is treated as a complex network of quantum states, and the pull we interpret as gravity arises from the way information spreads and entangles across that network. According to Physicist Ginestra Bianconi, this perspective has the potential to bridge the gap between quantum mechanics and relativity by treating both as emergent descriptions of a deeper informational substrate.
Her work also connects entropy growth to the large scale behavior of the cosmos, including the expansion of the universe. In a related formulation, a new equation that links Einstein’s relativity and quantum theory with entropy suggests that if entropy stopped increasing, gravitational effects could weaken or even become erratic, a possibility flagged in a detailed report. That does not mean planets will suddenly drift away, but it does hint that the strength and character of gravity could be intimately tied to the arrow of time defined by entropy.
How entropy-based gravity tries to unify physics
What makes this entropic approach more than a clever metaphor is that it offers a single mathematical language for both quantum fields and curved spacetime. A new theoretical framework in quantum information theory proposes that gravity can be derived from the way quantum states encode information about the geometry they inhabit, with the curvature effectively tracking how information is distributed among matter fields, as outlined in a recent framework. In that picture, the familiar gravitational field is not a separate entity but a statistical effect of countless quantum bits interacting.
Supporters argue that this information first mindset naturally incorporates quantum uncertainty and entanglement, which have always been awkward to reconcile with the smooth fabric of general relativity. By treating the geometry as an emergent summary of underlying quantum data, the theory promises to handle both microscopic and macroscopic regimes in one stroke, a point emphasized in follow up discussions of the same research. A separate overview of the same line of work notes that the proposal explicitly ties the gravitational dynamics of spacetime to entropy associated with matter fields present within it, reinforcing the idea that geometry and information are inseparable, as described in a complementary summary.
Beyond dark matter and dark energy
If gravity really is an emergent entropic effect, it could reshape how physicists think about some of the biggest puzzles in cosmology. One of the most tantalizing possibilities is that phenomena currently attributed to dark matter might instead reflect subtle information theoretic corrections to gravity on galactic scales. While dark matter remains the leading hypothesis, its failure to appear in direct detection experiments has intensified scrutiny and opened the door to alternatives that modify gravity or invoke new physical principles, a tension laid out in detail in a recent discussion of how While dark matter might not exist.
Dark energy, the mysterious driver of cosmic acceleration, is also under renewed scrutiny. Some physicists are openly debating whether dark energy is really a fixed cosmological constant or something more dynamic, with one discussion asking, “Generally, what do you think about the idea dark energy isn’t a constant?” and noting that future surveys like DESI could clarify the picture, as captured in a widely read Generally thread. An entropy based gravity theory offers a natural way to reinterpret both dark matter and dark energy as emergent features of how information and entropy behave on the largest scales, rather than as separate invisible substances.
Separating radical physics from viral nonsense
Any claim that gravity might behave differently in extreme conditions arrives at a moment when wild ideas about gravity are already spreading online, for very different reasons. A new theory circulating on social media insists that The Earth will briefly “lose gravity” for seven seconds on a specific August date, supposedly due to a secret operation called “Project Anchor,” a story that has been dissected in detail by Scientists. Physicists have been unequivocal that such a gravity shutdown is physically impossible, and that any suggestion of a coordinated “off switch” for gravity is at odds with everything known about planetary motion and orbital mechanics.
NASA has also been pulled into the fray. After Multiple social media accounts, including a now deleted Instagram profile, amplified the claim that Earth’s gravity would vanish for a few seconds, NASA officials stepped in to stress that the planet’s gravitational pull is stable and that any significant change would be predictable decades in advance, a point made explicit in a detailed NASA response. Snopes reporters separately contacted NASA and were told flatly that The Earth will not lose gravity on the claimed date, with experts adding that any real change in gravitational strength over human lifetimes is so tiny that it goes completely unnoticed, as summarized in a detailed Snopes investigation.
The contrast with the entropy based gravity research is stark. The new theory does not predict sudden disappearances of gravity or apocalyptic events. Instead, it offers a subtle reinterpretation of the equations that already describe how planets orbit and light bends, grounded in quantum information and entropy. A detailed overview aimed at general readers notes that if gravity really does come from entropy, then everything in the universe, from black holes to the expansion of space, could be understood as part of a single informational process that unites general relativity and quantum theory, as explained in a recent Jan feature. Another technical summary emphasizes that the same entropic action could, in principle, describe gravity on both quantum and cosmic scales, reinforcing the sense that this is a serious attempt at unification rather than a viral stunt, as outlined in a focused Gravity overview.
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