LHC fears: Valid or Silly?

[Asbo Zaprudder]

That second paragraph's second half doesn't seem to make sense. I get the first part. High energy cosmic ray collisions aren't natural analogs to the collisions in the LHC because they have time to decay to their positive state, thereby not being able to collide with free nuclei because they're the same charge and will be repelled. In the LHC this is not the case.

And that worries me.

High energy cosmic rays collide directly with the surface of the Moon. Last time I looked the Moon was still there.

 

[James Bond]

That second paragraph's second half doesn't seem to make sense. I get the first part. High energy cosmic ray collisions aren't natural analogs to the collisions in the LHC because they have time to decay to their positive state, thereby not being able to collide with free nuclei because they're the same charge and will be repelled. In the LHC this is not the case.

And that worries me.

It could also have to do with the fact that it's freaking Wikipedia!

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Here's the BBC's take on the LHC experiment, a detailed interactive idiots guide to the whole process, complete with a Q&A with Brian Cox (he certainly gets everywhere, doesn't he? [Not THAT Brian Cox - everyone]):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7543089.stm

Radio 4 are even devoting a whole day of programming to it (including a special radio episode of Torchwood as mentioned in the Doctor Who forum).

 

[John O.]

That second paragraph's second half doesn't seem to make sense. I get the first part. High energy cosmic ray collisions aren't natural analogs to the collisions in the LHC because they have time to decay to their positive state, thereby not being able to collide with free nuclei because they're the same charge and will be repelled. In the LHC this is not the case.

And that worries me.

It could also have to do with the fact that it's freaking Wikipedia!

This along with the fact that 9,000 scientists from like 100 countries with an average IQ of 165 aren't going to have gotten tied up in grammar

Think of it this way: It'll be fine, and if it's not, you'll never know it. Your body along with the rest of the universe will disintegrate into subatomic particles in nanoseconds. It'd be like sitting on the nose of an H-bomb.

 

[Longinus]

Think of it this way: It'll be fine, and if it's not, you'll never know it. Your body along with the rest of the universe will disintegrate into subatomic particles in nanoseconds. It'd be like sitting on the nose of an H-bomb.

Yeah, thank you. That was very reassuring...

 

[Jadzia]

Think of it this way: It'll be fine, and if it's not, you'll never know it. Your body along with the rest of the universe will disintegrate into subatomic particles in nanoseconds. It'd be like sitting on the nose of an H-bomb.

Yeah, thank you. That was very reassuring...

I'll second that ------>


Once again I will point out that you cannot be sure that physical death causes and ending of mind... and that mind might be subjected to horrors worse than you can ever imagine. Perhaps you are in need of a kick in your complacency to prepare you for what lies ahead.

 

[MikeS]

Yes.

I fear that that has the potential to destroy human civilization once and for all.

That sort of behaviour by intelligent scientists trying to look "cool" may destroy culture, but I doubt it will destroy civilisation. It will be funny if they don't find the Higgs particle. They'll have to throw away 50 years of Phsyics and start again.

 

[Jim Steele]

Think of it this way: It'll be fine, and if it's not, you'll never know it. Your body along with the rest of the universe will disintegrate into subatomic particles in nanoseconds. It'd be like sitting on the nose of an H-bomb.

Yeah, thank you. That was very reassuring...

I'll second that ------>


Once again I will point out that you cannot be sure that physical death causes and ending of mind... and that mind might be subjected to horrors worse than you can ever imagine. Perhaps you are in need of a kick in your complacency to prepare you for what lies ahead.

at the pair of you for not being able to take a joke.

 

[Jim Steele]

Awesome Q&A with "rock star scientist" Brian Cox on the BBC website.

At the end, he (predictably) addresses the "end of the world" concerns:

I am in fact immensely irritated by the conspiracy theorists who spread this nonsense around and try to scare people. This non-story is symptomatic of a larger mistrust in science, particularly in the US, which includes intelligent design amongst other things.
The only serious issue is why so many people who don't have the time or inclination to discover for themselves why this stuff is total crap have to be exposed to the opinions of these half-wits.

This is the final blow after four or five paragraphs explaining exactly why there's nothing to worry about.

After doing a lot of reading (from both sides of the argument) and watching a few documentaries on the subject, I've come to the conclusion that it is quite silly to fear the LHC, and for the most part these fears are born out of sheer ignorance or utter (mostly religious) stupidity.

In fact, I'm embarrased about starting the thread in the first place.

 

[MikeS]

Awesome Q&A with "rock star scientist" Brian Cox on the BBC website.

Do you remember him as the bass player in the group D:Ream? They had a British hit with "Things can only get better", which the Labour party adopted as their anthem for election in '97.

 

[Jim Steele]

Awesome Q&A with "rock star scientist" Brian Cox on the BBC website.

Do you remember him as the bass player in the group D:Ream? They had a British hit with "Things can only get better", which the Labour party adopted as their anthem for election in '97.

I remember it very well, much to my chagrin. Who could forget that footage of Neil Kinnock and John Prescott strutting their funky stuff?

 

[diankra]

Awesome Q&A with "rock star scientist" Brian Cox on the BBC website.

Do you remember him as the bass player in the group D:Ream? They had a British hit with "Things can only get better", which the Labour party adopted as their anthem for election in '97.

I remember it very well, much to my chagrin. Who could forget that footage of Neil Kinnock and John Prescott strutting their funky stuff?

Now that is worrying. When you've contributed to a horror like that, what else is there left for an evil genius to do except to cause the end the universe?

 

[Brian]

I love Google's representation of today's predicted end of the world: http://www.google.com/logos/lhc.gif

LOL!

 

[scotthm]

^Why would the world end today, they haven't even initiated high speed collisions yet?

---------------

 

[Samurai8472]

if we've learned anything from our years of watching science fiction shows it's that huge electromagnetic devices always create some sort of disastrous black hole, wormhole, vortex etc


but we have nothing to worry about because we can count on a crack team of good looking time travelers from a parallel universe to show up and save the day at the last moment

or we just drop a nuke into the blackhole and all is fine

 

[tharpdevenport]

I guess this was bound to happen eventually:

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

 

[SeerSGB]

What the CERN team should have done is flipped the switch, then started screaming and panicing and shouting "We're all doooooooooooomed!" Just to see the look on the media's face.

 

[John O.]

Think of it this way: It'll be fine, and if it's not, you'll never know it. Your body along with the rest of the universe will disintegrate into subatomic particles in nanoseconds. It'd be like sitting on the nose of an H-bomb.

Yeah, thank you. That was very reassuring...

I'll second that ------>


Once again I will point out that you cannot be sure that physical death causes and ending of mind... and that mind might be subjected to horrors worse than you can ever imagine. Perhaps you are in need of a kick in your complacency to prepare you for what lies ahead.

What? Like getting turned into strangelets is like getting turned into a vampire or a werewolf? What the heck are we talking about here? How would it be any different than death?

It's my opinion that everybody oughta be willing to die because it's going to happen sooner or later -- and for a statistical number of individuals who never thought they WOULD be a statistic, it happened sooner courtesy of buses, runaway trains, bad tires, a lot of cigarettes, big macs, and for a whoooole lotta boys, some fast little 7.62mm mosquitos.

So why be worried that it's going to happen instantaneously by a machine in France you have no power to stop? Even if it weren't absolutely ludicrous, why fret over it? Have a burger, drain a shot of JD7, and find a willing & ready woman (or man) and relax.

 

[trekkiedane]

^What about the Dark Matter Cascade, then? -would be horrible if we all were turned into dark matter -for one thing noone would be able to see anyone else…

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yeah, some of the concerns were (and are) valid - the "reassurances" given have been condescending and self-serving to some degree (you think that vanity and ambition don't cloud the judgment or integrity of physicists? Hah - the opposite is true). Since the valid criticisms have given very long odds against a disaster, though, no one is going to panic - probably everything will be fine.