From the cosmological constant to the smallness of the weak scale to the strong-CP problem, the problems of the Standard Model are problems of effective field theory. Yet improvements in our understanding of gravity -- from the absence of global symmetries to the subextensive entropy of black holes -- challenge some of our long-held views on the applicability of this framework.
I will discuss how gravitational considerations provide an opportunity to get a new perspective on some of the long-standing puzzles in particle physics. I will emphasize the role of semiclassical gravity techniques and black hole thought experiments on our improved understanding of gravitational theories, and argue that only a combination of new theoretical developments and original ideas, confronted with the vast array of experiments at our disposal, will provide us with the big picture we need to discover what comes next.