If you can read this, the world hasn’t ended (yet)
by Phil on Sep 10 2008 (2097 Views)
About two hours ago, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, has accelerated its first proton beam. This massive particle accelerator will hopefully be able to answer many questions about the beginning of the universe, and maybe be able to detect the Higgs boson, the so-called “God Particle” (cf. also here).
There has been much ado about the possibility that these collision experiments might create a black hole, which will grow in size and eventually destroy the earth. Although there is a consensus in the scientific field that there is no real threat, this topic is broadly discussed in the public media. Probably because this is about the only aspect of the LHC that a layman (such as me) can understand to an extent.
What I find very annoying is the religious people claiming that this kind of research is good for nothing, and that true answers to the fundamental questions can only be found in the Bible. Actually, calling the Higgs boson the “God Particle” is asking for trouble from that side. My theory is that the CERN is part of a plot of al-Quaida, who will probably wait until tomorrow (September 11th) to destroy the world.
Just another thought – could it be that all the other black holes we observe in the universe come from an alien civilization? That every intelligent species develops up to a point where they want to do experiments like at CERN and consequently destroy their planet? This could be a good science-fiction story…
The most optimistic model for extraterrestrial intelligence, would argue that the next intelligent race is 150 Ly away. As radiowaves have only been traveling from this planet for ~80 years, we still have an other 220 years or so to get a response.
I found it interesting to hear about the number of death threats associated with these experiments. The Boston Globe reported (yesterday) that Frank Wilczek of MIT has gotten several death threats with respect to the Hadron experiments. Interestingly enough, he’s not directly related to the project.
Maybe the world as we knew it did get sucked into a black hole. Only, now we came out the other side and are in a different universe.
Prove it did not happen!
In what way would this universe be different? You still have to pay your bills…