Black Holes

I have been contemplating, of late, just what reality would be for someone born without the ability to see, hear, feel, smell and taste. In other words, this someone was born without the ability to sense their physical surrounds. What exactly, if anything, do they know? What, if anything, can they possibly learn? Do they have a sense of time?

All this came back to me last evening while watching a television program on black holes. Seems that the universe is filled with black holes into which surrounding matter is sucked into them by gravity. Once inside, the matter ceases to exist and time comes to an end. Consequently, all information regarding the matter is lost as if the matter had never existed. Indeed, time and, consequently, eternity ended.

My question is whether the matter sucked into the black hole ever existed for someone unable to physically observe it. More specifically, can anything exist without benefit of observation?

Based on physical observations, it seems that time and the physical universe as we know it began 13.73 ± 0.12 billion years ago at the Big Bang. How long will it take all in that universe to fall into black holes and cease to exist?

The mind boggles.