system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can a black hole be pried open with another black hole?

If two black holes were to move very close to each other, could their gravity pulling in opposite directions reduce the escape velocity near the event horizons enough to make it possible for matter that once crossed over to escape?
gpt
Classically, no. That would require the area the event horizon to decrease, which is forbidden by the "second law of black hole thermodynamics", which has a better name: the area theorem. The area of an event horizon can never classically decrease.

If two black holes are in a bound orbit and the orbit is not disrupted, then they will emit gravitational radiation until they merge. If two black holes are in an initially unbound orbit and gravitationally scatter, they may emit enough gravitational radiation to enter a bound orbit.

Black holes just want to merge, basically.

The area theorem is violated by Hawking radiation, though; that is quantum mechanical. It's also on such a long timescale that it's astronomically unimportant.