Yippeee - the world didn't end...

[Donna]

I notice that was your 6666th post. Is that the devil gone in to overdrive.

Could you be the one*?

The thing is that if it does go pear shaped (or more likely blancmange shaped) then....we're all in it together. The collective unconscious melding into one gooey mass swirling through the universe like a hot shot on heat....


* ie the one who makes a desperate last minute dash to CERN to try and stop it - but who ends up pressing the wrong button after breaking into the control room - and BOOM!

That's a thought.... who's to say there won't be a terrorist attack being planned out right now.. for the 21st October? All they have to do is drop or bury an explosive right over where the LHC lies and that's it..

I think these sort of things should be left alone.

yes, I can see why it's exciting.. it could lead to all things bright for the future. such as new cures for life threatening illnesses.. energy saving technology etc etc. But, they are looking to find something that happened a billionth of a second after the big bang... Does it really matter! They are putting billions of lives at risk for this... and then something may not come out of it at all! 5 billion pounds.. all of which come out of various bank loans.. for an experiment that may not give a fascinating result of any sort.

What would sound like a promising result, would be to put that 5 billion towards cancer research or cures for other terminal illnesses... THEN it would be gauranteed that a cure would be found probably in the next 5 years.

[Beowulf]

who's to say there won't be a terrorist attack being planned out right now.. for the 21st October? All they have to do is drop or bury an explosive right over where the LHC lies and that's it...

I'd be much more worried about any terrorists that had a big enough bomb.. the LHC is buried 100m down in nice Geneva rock.

I think these sort of things should be left alone..

yeah.. I can see how not striving to expand mankind's knowledge would be a good thing. What a better world we'd live in had scientists not discovered electricity or magnetism.. what a better world it would be without solar panels, computers, magnetic resonance imaging , coffee machines, autotellers, shoe polishers, penguin sorters.. (ok I made that last one up.. but heavens knows we need to sort penguins into alphabetical order.. )

yes, I can see why it's exciting..

it is.. very

they are looking to find something that happened a billionth of a second after the big bang... Does it really matter!

Yes it does.. Understanding the nature of matter.. of space.. of time could push mankind though boundarys hitherto consigned to the realms of science fiction. When Franklin supposedly flew a kite in a lightning storm with a key attached did anyone then percieve where we'd end up? Supercondutors could allow batteries to power devices almost indefinately.. Image a mobile phone or PDA.. or any other battery device a red blooded female may have on her person.. never running out of juice?

They are putting billions of lives at risk for this... and then something may not come out of it at all! 5 billion pounds.. all of which come out of various bank loans.. for an experiment that may not give a fascinating result of any sort.

No they're not..at least no more than we're already at risk from all manner of risks.. A meteor may crash into the planet and wipe everything but the hamster out of existance, a super bug may turn us all into one giant oozing puddle of biogloop.. we may all be destroyed when the climate goes nasty. all of these are much much more likely than the LHC blasting us into oblivion.

What would sound like a promising result, would be to put that 5 billion towards cancer research or cures for other terminal illnesses... THEN it would be gauranteed that a cure would be found probably in the next 5 years

ok.. let me point this out.. even if they DO NOT find the Higgs boson.. or the extra dimensions that they suspect.. or string fragments.. super symmetry.. the meaning of life.. etc etc THAT STILL is an epic result. It means our current thinking is flawed and it would fuel a massive push towards more radical plans.

and besides.. No matter how much money they pour into other sciences.. it doesn't guarentee anything. Give me 5 billion and I'll guarentee you'll live for ever.. if you die.. I'll give you the money back .. honest.

EVERY science is justified. No Science exists in isolation. Cancers are now being cured by beams of directed energy.. what science came up with these beams of energy? Physics. Who knows what the LHC may bring.. I have not got a crystal ball (or a wormhole to the future) but it may ultimately lead to currently magical sounding devices..

Antigravity? perhaps .. but not for a while!!
what about a material as soft abd flexable as silk , but as tough as tungsten? who knows it may happen..
New forms of communication? smoke signals.. jungle drums.. telegraph... radio.. bluetooth.. gsm.. neutrino ?? we just do not know where this may lead. Mankind must constantly strive to step forward.. if we don't go forward we stagnate.

I for one think it's facinating and I don't mind my tax dollars being spent in part on this.

[JiveLad]

I'd be much more worried about any terrorists that had a big enough bomb.. the LHC is buried 100m down in nice Geneva rock.

{snip}

Yes it does.. Understanding the nature of matter.. of space.. of time could push mankind though boundarys hitherto consigned to the realms of science fiction. When Franklin supposedly flew a kite in a lightning storm with a key attached did anyone then percieve where we'd end up? Supercondutors could allow batteries to power devices almost indefinately.. Image a mobile phone or PDA.. or any other battery device a red blooded female may have on her person.. never running out of juice?


{snip}

No they're not..at least no more than we're already at risk from all manner of risks.. A meteor may crash into the planet and wipe everything but the hamster out of existance, a super bug may turn us all into one giant oozing puddle of biogloop.. we may all be destroyed when the climate goes nasty. all of these are much much more likely than the LHC blasting us into oblivion.



ok.. let me point this out.. even if they DO NOT find the Higgs boson.. or the extra dimensions that they suspect.. or string fragments.. super symmetry.. the meaning of life.. etc etc THAT STILL is an epic result. It means our current thinking is flawed and it would fuel a massive push towards more radical plans.

and besides.. No matter how much money they pour into other sciences.. it doesn't guarentee anything. Give me 5 billion and I'll guarentee you'll live for ever.. if you die.. I'll give you the money back .. honest.

EVERY science is justified. No Science exists in isolation. Cancers are now being cured by beams of directed energy.. what science came up with these beams of energy? Physics. Who knows what the LHC may bring.. I have not got a crystal ball (or a wormhole to the future) but it may ultimately lead to currently magical sounding devices..

Antigravity? perhaps .. but not for a while!!
what about a material as soft abd flexable as silk , but as tough as tungsten? who knows it may happen..
New forms of communication? smoke signals.. jungle drums.. telegraph... radio.. bluetooth.. gsm.. neutrino ?? we just do not know where this may lead. Mankind must constantly strive to step forward.. if we don't go forward we stagnate.

I for one think it's facinating and I don't mind my tax dollars being spent in part on this.

Well - kinda....yeeaaaahh - 'cept now it's broken. And the guys are inside it are celebrating their latest 'success' no doubt.....

Large Hadron Collider to be turned off for two months following damage - Telegraph

And one of the guys says the experiment will have to be put on hold "indefinitely".

I think I can smell a white elephant somewhere in Switzerland.