Non-physics person here:
> General Relativity is the theory that explains how gravity works.
Okay. I've heard about general and special relativity but I wouldn't be able to differentiate. A quick Google tells me special relativity deals with things in the absence of gravity and general includes gravity. So... maybe?
> It says that space and time are connected,
Ok. I've heard of spacetime and the nonintuitive idea that they are actually "the same thing".
> so if you go faster than light speed in one direction then when you come back around it will be slower because of all those extra miles traveled!
What? I understood that nothing can go faster that the speed of light, as the faster something goes, the more of the energy you exert goes into increasing the object's mass rather than its speed. C is a hard limit.
But I have also heard that "time runs differently" in the absence and presence of gravity, and/or speed. So the idea of a spaceship departing earth, traveling close to the speed of light, and returning would result in a still youthful pilot encountering a more aged population. Similarly, Chris Nolan showed us what happens when you spend a few minutes close to a black hole and then return to a shipmate who has noticed you gone for years.
Why this happens is not clear.
> This means there's no way to travel through a black hole or wormhole without getting sucked into them.
Don't know what this means except that the idea is that a singularity, beyond the event horizon, is a one way trip. How this relates to the previous sentence is unclear.
> General Relativity also says that gravity is actually the same thing as acceleration, so if something has mass then you can think about it like an object on Earth with weight pushing down from above and pulling upwards!
Generously, this makes me think of the (apocryphal?) thought experiment of an elevator in space accelerating 'up' at 1G. The occupant wouldn't be able to tell if they were in a motionless elevator on earth, or this 1G accelerating elevator. Suggesting there is a relationship between gravity and acceleration? Leading to relativity?
But the sentence is so opaque I'm just guessing.
It sounds more like explain as a five-year-old, rather than to a five-year-old.
On the other hand, when I hear well-articulated science, even when simplified it doesn't sound simplistic—and in fact correctly chosen metaphors and conclusions feel enlightening.