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131 Comments
- seananderson, on 09/09/2008, -2/+65Spoken from the mouth (or speech synthesizer) of the man himself. If the public can't feel reassured when he says things like "Collisions releasing greater energy occur millions of times a day in the earth's atmosphere and nothing terrible happens," then people are seriously hysteric goons.
- inactive, on 09/10/2008, -7/+45But will it run Crysis?
- treelovinhippie, on 09/10/2008, -2/+37ALL scientific experiments (esp space missions) are integral to the survival of the human species.
- Azerael, on 09/10/2008, -2/+32The guy speaks painstakingly through a speech synthesiser and lives in a wheelchair, yet has managed to contribute more to humankind than you, me or most people on this planet could ever dream of doing.
I think he deserves the privilege of being a bit of a dick from time to time. - inactive, on 09/10/2008, -2/+32This is just the next Y2k. Unfortunately, we have 2012 to look forward to next.
- roguewriter, on 09/10/2008, -0/+27How dumb are you? Seriously.
Scientific research into quantum physics is as important today, as all the R&D done to get the Apollo program to the moon.
Oh. Wait. I'm betting you're one of those people that still thinks the moon landings were faked. Right?
Do you keep your dvd of Capricorn One right next to your Flat Earth Society membership card and Intelligent Design textbook?
I think what bothers me most is that if money hadn't been spent on serious scientific endeavors, you wouldn't be able to post your complaint. Your hypocrisy disgusts me. - lithera, on 09/10/2008, -0/+25In a lot of respects the LHC is a huge succes already. The level of new technology that was needed to just build the machines is mindboggling. Just what we learned from that alone is enough to justify the research and money spent.
- exscape, on 09/10/2008, -1/+25Hawking is well known for his belief that if we don't get out and live in space, humanity will die out. He often lists nuclear war as a big part of it, by the way.
Understanding physics is pretty helpful when it comes to space travel, and particle accelerators have given us a LOT of physics knowledge in the last century. - Velnich, on 09/10/2008, -0/+23I love how much importance he puts in the LHC and space research and how clearly he states it. The human race really needs this kind of research to survive. An understanding of the universe and the ability to explore it will be the only things that will stave off extinction when asteroid/comet number 7 finally finds it's way to earth.
- HollowMarkeD, on 09/10/2008, -1/+23He has Hawking Radiation named after him, the radiation that comes off black holes as they shrink - if it can be proved via the LHC he would win the prize.
- LucasVB, on 09/10/2008, -1/+23He's just being honest. He would get a Nobel prize, and he would have deserved it.
- HollowMarkeD, on 09/10/2008, -0/+21Sure what a waste of money, $5 billion - we could have 2 more weeks of the Iraq war for that.
http://theiraqinsider.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-muc ... - inactive, on 09/10/2008, -0/+19It's true actually. If it wasn't for science experiments you wouldn't of been able to read this article, type on your PC, or tell someone - who is probably a considerable distance away from you - that they are wrong. Humans would be a much more primitive species without science, and theres no doubt science can play a large part in our survival, in more ways than you can even think of.
You are the one who is wrong. Think before you speak. - opticwind, on 09/10/2008, -0/+15If it helps, you won't dislike it if it does.
- hauntedchippy, on 09/10/2008, -0/+14Failure to find the Higgs boson is not failure of the experiment; it is success. The boundaries of current undestanding will be pushed back no matter the outcome.
- crunchyeyeball, on 09/10/2008, -0/+13For one thing, CERN invented the World Wide Web, HTML, HTTP and the web browser along the way. Not bad as far as spin-off projects go:
http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/en/About/Web-en.h ... - dalectrics, on 09/10/2008, -0/+13Maybe they are content without vast sums of money. Your own sense of greed doesn't reflect upon the whole human race.
- ThisCommentSux, on 09/10/2008, -0/+12It's a typo, not bad grammar.
- Dangered, on 09/10/2008, -0/+12two hours ago
- KMye, on 09/10/2008, -0/+12my understanding is that particle accelerator experiments like this are statistically based, and take months to years to collect enough data to start really figuring things out...
- inactive, on 09/10/2008, -0/+11wow dude... calm down.
- Azerael, on 09/10/2008, -0/+10The achievements of these scientists will last forever; money lasts only so long as you are alive to use it.
- GunOfSod, on 09/10/2008, -0/+10Perhaps you dont enjoy the benefits of modern technology eg electricity, radio, television etc. that particle physics has made possible.
Perhaps you are not even slightly curious about the way the universe works?
In which case I recommend you go live in a cave and stop paying taxes. And let the rest of us get on with it. - Erythroxylum, on 09/10/2008, -6/+15I concur. Plus, if anything goes wrong, France will be the first thing to get it. It's a win-win situation, baby.
- palehorse864, on 09/10/2008, -1/+10Can I borrow your strawman to keep crows out of my yard?
- Azerael, on 09/10/2008, -0/+9The human race needs to look beyond mere survival, and it is people like Hawking who are paving the way for human progress. If we aim only to survive, then we are nothing better than rabbits, nor even amoebeas; for our only purpose would be to breed, which hardly justifies our existence.
- whiteguysamurai, on 09/10/2008, -0/+9Looking forward to mass-less space travel from the discovery of the higgs boson particle.
- inactive, on 09/10/2008, -0/+9So we can all go "THAT'S NO MOON" and then wonder if it was really worth it.
- Murdats, on 09/10/2008, -0/+8ok i gave up 1/5th in when i realised it was a wall of text/stupidity.
first, if a meteor hit, sure we would be immune to the initial impact, but lets see, food, breathable air, where are they coming from? where will our power come from? not wind, tidal, solar and probably not coal either due to smogging up the caves.
what about the cost of building/supporting these caves, the deterioration of infrastructure causing mass deaths, the effort in cycling air, the vitamin D deficiency, where do we grow food? would that be on the surface, I am sure the farmers would like to live on their farms, then people would build shops and stuff near them to support the farming towns, then those people would build houses there to live near work, then more people would move there to support the town.
or will all the food be grown underground, we barely keep up with current energy demand, add permanent air conditioning, heating, artificial light to that and that is a TON of power needed. - pakke, on 09/10/2008, -0/+8If becoming a billionaire is your goal in life, you're probably not that smart, and probably not a physicist.
- ICSU, on 09/10/2008, -1/+8Geniuses are very honest and on-topic speakers. That's why it's said that they lack EQ.
But unlike your boss who speaks in the same way, they are not full of *****. - Greanbeens, on 09/10/2008, -0/+7Why is that funny?
- lycao25, on 09/10/2008, -2/+9Only on medium settings. Trying it on high would truly bring an end to the world.
- YodaJones, on 09/10/2008, -1/+8I want to roll with Stephen Hawking.
- lancedice, on 09/10/2008, -2/+8...we're not dead. I guess I gotta go to class today...damn.
- streaky, on 09/10/2008, -1/+7@joeanon + general comments on the subject:
Problems with your great plan are that firstly, travel to other planets is pretty feasible right now. It's expensive because nobody builds vehicles, it takes time (but who cares in a hypothetical humankind-extinction scenario?) and it's reasonably dangerous.
The thing is with space travel, to say working on such things like the LHC is a waste of time & money in the meantime is just plain wrong. The LHC's intention is to get an idea of the physical properties of matter, this is bleeding-edge physics work being done. When Henri Becquerel was experimenting with phosphorescence in the late 19th century and accidentally stumbled upon radiation nobody knew before or for some time after it's potential uses and that it would create an entirely new branch of science.
This is why it's important - you talk about space travel or digging holes (more on that later) as if the LHC can't help that - but the fact is as we understand matter better we may figure out better ways of digging holes or potentially an entirely new system of propulsion.
When you get this close to the edge of knowledge the only way to learn is by doing. As for slowing down, because as I mentioned earlier, we're working here on the absolute limits of human knowledge - even if we waited 50 years we'd still be no closer to knowing what this machine does until somebody runs it, hence it has to be done and delaying is a complete waste of time and human knowledge.
It's interesting also to note that there's people making comments about the fact we're not dead yet. The key part of this experiment is when it's running at full power and there's collisions happening, I wouldn't expect that for months yet. We know what happens when particles are fired round an accellerator, 'we' as a species have been doing it for many years, the contention is over the fact nobody has ever fired particles into each other at these energies.
As for the LHC 'failing' - short of doing what some people fear there is no failure, and if it does fail in that way you'd never know about it anyway, you'd just cease to exist. Why can the LHC not fail? Well, asside from the fact it's doing other things than just looking for the Higgs', even if it's not found it's an exciting time for humanity because it tells us that we know absolutely nothing and we essentially have to start from scratch.
Some points:
LHC = good, digging holes and living underground because one day some event might happen = bad
It's impossible for the LHC to fail.
It's worth every single penny.
We're doing what humanity has done since it first existed we're pushing the boundaries and learning new things.
If the Higgs' doesn't exist then we've still learnt something new.
It's so important to humanity that even if there was a 1/100 chance of it killing us all I'd go and throw the switch myself. Until this is done we're at an impass as a species.
As for Steven Hawking, in the fairness of balance, most of his statements on the subject rely on his own theories, and the key word is theories. They're nice, neat theories - but they're not Darwin-type "pretty-much rock-solid" theories - more educated guesswork.
Back to the hole digging thing as I said I'd come back to it - any even medium sized event would vaporise the planet's crust in milliseconds for hundreds of miles around, sending molten rock as far up as the upper atmosphere (that's about 60 miles which is apparently a lot in vertical terms) - and the people living in that area would be the lucky ones underground or not. The best way to describe what would happen even on a reasonably small cosmic scale would be to compare it to what happens when you throw a water balloon at something hard. - lancedice, on 09/10/2008, -0/+6How people thought it would in the world in the first place is amazing to me. Off topic: Anyone know what time is this supposed to be turned on?
- DforSpiD, on 09/10/2008, -1/+6Well put, you may sup upon these virtual noodles:
http://i.timeinc.net/recipes/i/recipes/ck/01/05/no ... - GunOfSod, on 09/10/2008, -0/+5You mean ALL particle physicists are wrong, and you know know this for a fact!!
Hail the great decider!!! - inactive, on 09/10/2008, -1/+6You need a lot of ambition to be a pioneer.
- inactive, on 09/10/2008, -2/+7I will like it if it doesn't kill me.
- linagee, on 09/10/2008, -0/+5Hawking: "I call it a hawking hole"
http://www.gotfuturama.com/Multimedia/EpisodeSound ... - inactive, on 09/10/2008, -2/+7There is no spoon, either, but I seem to be holding one.
- mahadiga, on 09/10/2008, -1/+6I think it is prudent to conduct this experiment on Moon.
- thephysicist, on 09/10/2008, -0/+5it was "turned on" 8.30 GMT (9.30am CET)
- Murdats, on 09/10/2008, -0/+4as opposed to the deliberate misinformation and scaremongering that has been going on in order to sell news?
- WoollyMittens, on 09/10/2008, -0/+4Of course Buddy Redneck McJesus "just knows" that this elitist science doohicky will destroy the earth.
If humanity doesn't learn how nuclear fusion and subatomic particles work, we can look forward to a future of goat-herding. But then again... according to some people this is exactly what god's intentions for us are. - chocula78, on 09/10/2008, -0/+4FTA:
"Both the LHC and the Space program are vital if the human race is not to stultify and eventually die out. Together they cost less than one tenth of a per cent of world GDP. If the human race can not afford this, then it doesn't deserve the epithet 'human'."
A great quote from a great mind. - MacEnvy, on 09/10/2008, -0/+4It's pretty awesome that he holds the same chair at Cambridge that Isaac Newton did. It must be nice to live in a country that has *history*.
- MaxMWood, on 09/10/2008, -0/+4Photos from my trip to CERN:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxwood/sets/72157603 ... -
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