Biggest Particle Collider - Doomsday Device?

Forums: Science And Math
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC

The builders of the world's biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet.

Representatives at Fermilab in Illinois and at Europe's CERN laboratory, two of the defendants in the case, say there's no chance that the Large Hadron Collider would cause such cosmic catastrophes. Nevertheless, they're bracing to defend themselves in the courtroom as well as the court of public opinion.

The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN's headquarters on the French-Swiss border. It's expected to tackle some of the deepest questions in science: Is the foundation of modern physics right or wrong? What existed during the very first moment of the universe's existence? Why do some particles have mass while others don't? What is the nature of dark matter? Are there extra dimensions of space out there that we haven't yet detected?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23844529/?GT1=43001

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 0 • Views: 4,261 • Replies: 40

No top replies

Oh good grief.

0 Replies

Opponents to the project just forget that the collider has been working for years, only on a smaller scale.

No accident, in the slightest form, was reported...

Calculations tend to prove that no energy generation could be powerful enough to cause dammages..

0 Replies

It seems to me that talk of globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet is a stalking horse to get an airing in court for the side that thinks that taxpayer's money could be better spent than on a bunch of scientists who have nice comfy and well paid jobs being expected to tackle (not quite the same as tackle) some of the deepest questions in science: Is the foundation of modern physics right or wrong? What existed during the very first moment of the universe's existence? Why do some particles have mass while others don't? What is the nature of dark matter? Are there extra dimensions of space out there that we haven't yet detected?

Taxpayers have not only no idea what any of that means but have no chance of ever having and some of them suspect that the same applies to the scientists themselves.

A court hearing might draw attention to such matters.

There is no such thing as existing during the very first moment of anything never mind the universe. Not scientifically I mean and if their own statements are not scientific what might one conclude from that.

The project relies on its supporters believing that their support is itself a sufficient qualification for them to be classed as scientists themselves or at least being known as a scientific type to which, naturally or by divine right, accrues admiration and wonder in roughly equal proportions.

0 Replies

spendius wrote:

The project relies on its supporters believing that their support is itself a sufficient qualification for them to be classed as scientists themselves or at least being known as a scientific type to which, naturally or by divine right, accrues admiration and wonder in roughly equal proportions.

And it really does work, Spendi! Twisted Evil

0 Replies

It would seem some religious minds have already decreed any result from the project, null and void. This before it even happens. Apparently they believe one should get born, eat, ****, sleep, worship, procreate, and move on. Nothing in between. Ask no questions.