(not an expert, just a math guy who occasionally tunes in to this sort of thing) The pop-sci treatment of what you're describing is the "force-feeding" theory.

(not an expert, just a math guy who occasionally tunes in to this sort of thing) The pop-sci treatment of what you're describing is the "force-feeding" theory. Black holes exert an outward pressure as they consume material, naturally limiting the rate they're able to grow. There were some recent results lending credence to the growing body of evidence that force-feeding was, at the very least, not a common phenomenon. One such tidbit was discussed here at HN recently [0]. Nobody really knows for sure yet though. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40761465 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40761465