What does the information paradox say about the universe?

Abstract: The black hole information paradox is resolved in string theory by a radical change in the picture of the hole: black hole microstates are horizon sized quantum gravity objects called `fuzzballs' instead of vacuum regions with a central singularity. The requirement of causality implies that the quantum gravity wavefunctional $\Psi$ has an important component not present in the semiclassical picture: virtual fuzzballs. The large mass $M$ of the fuzzballs would suppress their virtual fluctuations, but this suppression is compensated by the large number -- $Exp[S_{bek}(M)]$ -- of possible fuzzballs. These fuzzballs are extended compression-resistant objects. The presence of these objects in the vacuum wavefunctional alters the physics of collapse when a horizon is about to form; this resolves the information paradox. We argue that these virtual fuzzballs also resist the curving of spacetime, and so cancel out the large cosmological constant created by the vacuum energy of local quantum fields. Assuming that the Birkoff theorem holds to leading order, we can map the black hole information problem to a problem in cosmology. Using the virtual fuzzball component of the wavefunctional, we give a qualitative picture of the evolution of $\Psi$ which is consistent with the requirements placed by the information paradox.