The Large Hadron Collider Illicits Death Threats.
September 7th, 2008.
Article from DailyTech.com: Large Hadron Collider to Go Online This Week Despite Death Threats
<Insert last will and testimony here>
This is probably one of the coolest things to happen in my lifetime and I am looking forward to all the things we are going to learn from the LHC. I suspect our fellow humans with fears about the repercussions of such a machine are rooted in the fear of God, or the idea we are messing with Mother Nature and we are sure to pay. If by the smallest chance something big happens and we are sucked into a black hole…
Sweet!
There were a couple of good comments offered by readers…
SlipDizzy says: “I’m kind of hoping they create some sort of black hole that will eventually suck in the entire planet but at some insanely slow rate… maybe like 10,000 years. I think that would definitely speed up space travel and it would be cool to throw stuff in the black hole. It’ll be like a tourist attraction!”
I say: I couldnt agree with you more, and the tourism dollars could offset the cost of building the LHC (8 billion US) and the continued operation.
Masher2 says: “The hadron collider will generate micro black holes, perhaps as many as one a second. But calculations show these will evaporate in an unimaginably short period of time. In all candor, those calculations *could* be wrong, and the black holes could persist. Even still, the amount of time they would take to “eat up” the Earth would be measured in the tens of millions of years. You have to propose silly extralinear effects to get any sort of real-time risk. So there is a risk. About as likely as everyone in the US being simultaneously struck by lighting — all 300,000,000 of us at once. I’m not losing any sleep over either scenario. From a historical perspective, this isn’t the first time we’ve taken such a chance. Before the “Trinity” H-Bomb test, some people worried the ultra-high temperatures and pressures wouldn’t simply stop with the fuel in the bomb itself, but ignite the entire Earth into a mini star. Quite obviously, they were wrong there as well.”
I say: I had heard this as well – as far as the black holes were concerned. 300 million being struck by lightning all at once… with global warming as a concern doesn’t this become more probable?
September 10th, 2008.
Well, today is the day. They turned on the beam and got it to travel through the 17-mile tunnel successfully. I saw an article over at DVICE with some stunning images and, of course, some totally idiotic commentary from the readers.
Dickson says: “All these experiments will NEVER lead to the most wonderful “mystries” God created. Only the creator would know how the earth and the universe is made. the human mind has limitations. but God’s wisdom is eternal. There are so many things undiscovered within our earth, the sea and the atmosphere. The scientist should spend money on finding that rather than wasting money and resources for something stupid as this. This money could have been utilised for saving the Antartica’s melting ice…or fight global warming.”
I say: Notice I bolded the best part, “the human mind has limitations.” You are absolutely correct Dickson, yet we continually attempt to personify “God” as if our understanding even warrants discussion. And, you really should learn about what the LHC will do for us before you spout off at the mouth. Oh, and money wont stop global warming, a cessation from fossil fuels will.
