We're Doomed

[Professor S]

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news....Bang.Machine/

I know I've never been a fan of theoretical science on these forums, but I think we should keep shit like this on pen and paper. I'd prefer theory to creating a giant rift in space/time that sucks us all into oblivion.

[Fyacin]

Dude, this could be like a cheap sci-fi horror flick. Honestly, black holes are not things I want to have!

[manasecret]

[mickydaniels]

"No, don't sail that way, you'll fall off the edge of the earth!"


The only people in danger will be those working the machine and its components. At more than 6 billion euros, this thing better be fully operational from the first switch.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by mickydaniels

"No, don't sail that way, you'll fall off the edge of the earth!"

Except for the fact that the myth about the flat world was based on observation not science. There are scientific concerns and doubt as to exactly what this thing could do. The direct answer: They don't know. Just think of how many scientific discoveries were complete accidents. There is a lot that could happen that hasn't been worked out in theory.

Now odds are nothing bad will happen, but we also shouldn't be as cavalier as the quote you made. We should tread carefully and lightly into the unknown.

[thatmariolover]

We're not doomed. Nearly every major theoretical physicist has given it the thumbs up. The particle interactions that they will be creating happen every day in the earth's atmosphere. The real issue is that they're random and therefore unobservable at the scale required for real discovery.

In the event that something like a micro black hole did form, physics suggests it would collapse in on itself and wink out of existence causing no harm. There's a lot of scaremongering happening with this, and it's almost all started by the unformed.

[Professor S]

Once again, its likely that nothing bad will happen, but science has gained more from accident than intention. There is a line that separates confidence and arrogance, and to completely disregard the chance of something bad happening from operations that have never been attempted, crosses that line.

I'm not saying "don't do it". I'm saying "be careful".

And the I'm Doomed part was in jest, obviously, but there is room for reasoned concern.

[mickydaniels]

Yes, I don't think we should be preaching the apocalypse (unless you already do so for religious reasons).
Pretty interesting, if only for the fact that they're claiming this machine will go up to 7 trillion electronvolts.
Violence in the realm of "chemistry" is 5 eV.
Fission of 1 uranium atom is ~200 million eV.

Fun Fact: there were arguments before the Trinity bomb test against a hypothesis of the bomb actually being able to burn up the whole atmosphere of the earth.

[Swan]

Amusing article about a bunch of things this machine could do
http://www.cracked.com/article_16583...end-world.html


Even if not true scary to even think about

[mickydaniels]

Originally Posted by Swan

Amusing article about a bunch of things this machine could do
http://www.cracked.com/article_16583...end-world.html


Even if not true scary to even think about

REPENT! For the kingdom of God is near!

[Combine 017]

Resonance Cascade anyone? This place is located in an underground facility in Europe (Black Mesa East) being operated by theoretical physicists (Gordon Freeman). Headcrabs are upon us!

[KillerGremlin]

I've visited Fermilab twice. It's a cool facility. They do the same thing at Fermi that they are going to do at CERN....they accelerate a proton and an antiproton at each other at ~99% the speed of light. It's cool stuff. Is it a recreation of the Big Bang? The Big Bang Theory states that the universe came from singularity...it was an explosion with enough energy to create ALL the matter in our current universe. We're just firing single particles at each other.

We NEED to perform this experiment. It will prove or disprove the validity of the Higgs boson. No Higgs boson means String Theory is bunk. If we disprove String Theory many particle physicists will have to reconsider current models on our Universe. Personally, I'd like science to forward progress on figuring out as much as we can about the universe.

Did you know that your Cathode Tube Ray (CRT monitor/TV) is a particle accelerator?

[Professor S]

I'll end my part of this thread with the following:

Look out for a blue british police booth, because if you see one and a man in a trench coat pops put and screams "No! Don't!" on Wednesday, grab your ass and run because here come the fucking Dahleks.


"YOU FOOLS! YOU DAMN FOOLS!"

[Fox 6]

I read about this a month ago. Nutty stuff really.

[Dyne]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

We NEED to perform this experiment.

Wow, and to think that people are afraid of religious nuts.