Dr. Mathur’s talk was very fascinating. I was first introduced to Stephen Hawking when I read selected chapters from his book “Black holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays”. I was so fascinated by his ideas about black holes. Dr. Mathur was able to explain black holes in a way his audience would understand. As Hawking is a little hard to understand at times, I really appreciated his talk. Another book I read by Hawking that is fascinating and I recommend everyone read is “Brief Answers to the Big Questions” published after his death. In it, he attempts to answer many of the questions humans and science have about the universe. It is divided into Why are we here? Will we survive? Will technology save us or destroy us? and How can we thrive?. In it he goes into the mechanics of black holes. I guess that is his way of defending his theory. Form Dr Mathur’s lecture, String Theory attempts to invalidate black holes and present a different solution. Because physics can’t have infinity as a solution.
I didn’t totally understand why physics was so against infinity. It’s all over mathematics and personally I’ve always had a harder time imagining a finite universe than an infinite one. Anyway, I may try to read your book suggestions to get some more answers.