Cunning as Zeus
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So people "outside of the scientific mainstream" and a bunch of lawyers are attempting to stall, or even stop, scientists from activating the Large Hadron Collider because people out on the fringe of science are saying the production of incredibly tiny black holes might create one semi-large black hole that would destroy the Earth. They're also voicing their worries about other equally improbable possibilities in the hopes that the project will be scrapped for the good of mankind (a gross assumption. Sue me). This kind of nonsense upsets me. Are these theories, if you can even call them that as there really isn't any evidence to back up any of their claims, impossible? No, and no real scientist will ever make that claim, because anything is possible. But really now, the likelihood of what they're claiming may happen of actually occurring is up there with the likelihood of me becoming Mar-Vell.Peacock said:The builders of the world's biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet.
Representatives at Fermilab in Illinois and at Europe's CERN laboratory, two of the defendants in the case, say there's no chance that the Large Hadron Collider would cause such cosmic catastrophes. Nevertheless, they're bracing to defend themselves in the courtroom as well as the court of public opinion.
The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN's headquarters on the French-Swiss border. It's expected to tackle some of the deepest questions in science: Is the foundation of modern physics right or wrong? What existed during the very first moment of the universe's existence? Why do some particles have mass while others don't? What is the nature of dark matter? Are there extra dimensions of space out there that we haven't yet detected?
Some folks outside the scientific mainstream have asked darker questions as well: Could the collider create mini-black holes that last long enough and get big enough to turn into a matter-sucking maelstrom? Could exotic particles known as magnetic monopoles throw atomic nuclei out of whack? Could quarks recombine into "strangelets" that would turn the whole Earth into one big lump of exotic matter?
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/27/823924.aspx
I think fear can be a good thing and is what will probably keep us from destroying ourselves, as long as what we fear is logical and isn't based on pseudo-science or bad feelings or complete and utter ignorance of the topic at hand. It's this kind of irrational fear that's keeping us from living for a thousand years or curing a variety of diseases and ailments that, if given the proper funding, could be wiped out in the next decade.