Large Hadron Collider is activated

[UM-Bot]

Scientists have switched on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the device they hope will unravel some of the remaining mysteries of the universe.

At 9.30 am local time (8.30 am British Summer Time), 300 feet below the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, the most powerful particle accelerator ever built became fully operational.

View: Full Article | Source: The Telegraph

[missmaster]

This is dabbling in things we think we understand when we really have no idea.

And it can only end in disaster.

[Exterminator]

I can hardly wait for the experiment!

Imagine the secrets it will unravel and explanations it will give!

And most of all, if we could successfully produce Higgs Bosons, then it will be a landmark in Particle Physics...!

And all the planet-gobbling micro blackholes and stuff like that is bullsh*t

[Star_girl]

Well you never can tell until it happens...

I guess this sums us up perfectly. We want to learn more buy destroying things... (Particals count as things LOL!)

[EtuMalku]

Steven Hawkins has stated that no black holes or anything like that will occur from this experiment, that and if there was a danger like a World catastrophe do you really think they would be allowed to do this? It's hype.

[jesspy]

Well im not dead

But my internet connection is being annoying I blame the Collider

If they do manage to create a black hole can we dump our rubbish in it?

[DONTEATUS]

This is truley a wonderful time to be alive ,ANd anyway if all the black holes in the universe that may be out there a micro one will just be a drop in the dark.All that matter and star stuff must go or be transformed into something and that in a nut shell is how it all started in the first,second,third,ect ,ect,to infinity,place anyway. We are just a point of light in a greater mass of light beings.Dont be fearful to evolve back into light and start stuff.Keep -looking because thats mans true wonder. just remember to have a good time while we are here.

[Cradle of Fish]

This is dabbling in things we think we understand when we really have no idea.

And it can only end in disaster.

How do you know we have no idea about it? Are you a physicist?

If you consider having our minds blown and our eyes opened to the inner secrets of the universe a disaster, then by all means, bring on the disaster.

[BiffSplitkins]

Where the heck did they come up with the name 'Large Hadron Collider'? Takes on a whole new meaning if your a little dyslexic.

[xCrimsonx]

Well im not dead

But my internet connection is being annoying I blame the Collider

If they do manage to create a black hole can we dump our rubbish in it?

This quote sooo has more than one meaning! lol

[MasterPo]

This is dabbling in things we think we understand when we really have no idea.

And it can only end in disaster.

By that thinking man should never have left the cave.

[Exterminator]

Well, I am eagerly waiting for 21st October when the first High-energy collision will take place!

And the thing is, if it were dangerous and that a micro black hole would swallow us, we probably wouldn't have been existing right now because 100s of time more powerful collisions than LHC have already been taken place in nature..

[Mbyte]

I hate that! they said if there was a problem then it would have happened already...

We're not worried about the fiddlesticken thing being turned on. we're worried about the particles colliding!!!

This is the first thing humans have made that's forcing something to move the very close to the speed of light. They laugh at worried people but yet they say that the experiment is to see what will happen when to particles collide!! These colliding particles supposedly created the universe. (which in turn caused black holes billions of years later) What if these particles colliding creates some sort of extra space to blow out wards like mass within mass or a universe within a universe. So to see it it's just this distortion.

[Moonie2012]

And the thing is, if it were dangerous and that a micro black hole would swallow us, we probably wouldn't have been existing right now because 100s of time more powerful collisions than LHC have already been taken place in nature..

Exactly. Why is that so hard for all these ill-informed doomsayers to accept?

It happens all the time all around us - yet we live.

[LogicalPiccolo]

Steven Hawkins has stated that no black holes or anything like that will occur from this experiment, that and if there was a danger like a World catastrophe do you really think they would be allowed to do this? It's hype.

Steven Hawkins is a very educated man, with widely acknowledged contributions to the scientific community. But his word is not final, and is knowledge is not infinite.

We only think, believe, and hope what will happen, based on a fairly solid basis of what we already have knowledge of. This is not to say Hawkins has the final and absolutely knowledge of what can come of this situation. Quite frankly, it's foolish to believe so.

Professor Otto Rossler, the scientist voicing his hesitations, is not without his merits. He too is a very educated man, and has made contributions to the scientific community, it is not like he's some random crackpot.

Every scientific era has shown discovery beyond our own knowledge. This may very well be an amazing discovery, a discovery of many answers or even possibly more questions. But to say that because "most" scientists believe there is no threat, against the one documented scientist that has voiced his worries, that there should be nothing to worry about is merely speculation and trust in how much knowledge these scientists have.

Galileo too, was completely off his rocker as far as the scientific community was concerned. But that proved to fall through.

[LogicalPiccolo]

Exactly. Why is that so hard for all these ill-informed doomsayers to accept?

It happens all the time all around us - yet we live.

What happens in nature is natural. This makes sense, it is logical, we for the most part, know and understand this.

To take this into the hands of a machine, created by people, and ran by the very people who created it, is far from natural and could for all they know run beyond their control.

[Fluffybunny]

Well, it didnt create a black hole when it was fired up this morning...we will have to see what happens when they actually collide some protons. Coincidentally at the same time they fired up the collider this morning my cats started running laps around the bedroom like 2 tasmanian devils, just out of the blue...I dont think they hit near the speed of light, but they were fast enough to be able to bounce off walls...

I have my own Small Catron Collider.

Its a lot cheaper and funnier to watch than the Hadron.

[Harriet The Ripperologist]

Well, I hope the scientists are happy now they've spent billions of pounds so they can smash tiny atoms together...Are we really that sad we can't think of better things to do with government money?????

[Moonie2012]

What happens in nature is natural. This makes sense, it is logical, we for the most part, know and understand this.

To take this into the hands of a machine, created by people, and ran by the very people who created it, is far from natural and could for all they know run beyond their control.

So what if it isn't a natural occurrence when we do it? It's still the same process and reaction.

The machine is nothing more than a thing that can allow us to watch and measure the reaction. If it hasn't run beyond control in nature, it won't run beyond control in the collider, which even has a glaring advantage over nature - it can be turned off.

All you doomsayers have your fun, but be sure to be graceful when your fears come up unfounded. I expect you will all be very quiet when the planet does not explode/implode/get eaten by this thing and you will all move on to fearing something else that shouldn't be.

Edited September 10, 2008 by Moonie2012

[Mbyte]

Exactly. Why is that so hard for all these ill-informed doomsayers to accept?

It happens all the time all around us - yet we live.

Hawkins had a concern once that black holes were sucking up the universe but then said that he was wrong.

First of all every scientist is ill informed as well. There's a diffrence between cosmic particles and particles which we force to move near the speed of light with magnet feilds. Scientists don't know whats going to happen when the particles clash. They have an Idea like we have an idea. Of course any credentials are overlooked when a person with credentials expresses concern or worry. I just find it amazing that non of them seem to think that something could happen. There's cooling systems on this thing. It's going to be running for years. No worries here folks!!!

Edited September 10, 2008 by Mbyte

[Whangarei]

Could someone explain this thing in baby speak to those of us idiots who have no clue. Sounds like the death star to me?

[Shadowmalerenamon]

Based on my understanding on black holes (admittedly limited), black holes has a point where they reach capacity and merely die out. When you think about it, even if a black hole was created and was bigger than microscopic, wouldn't it just suck in a few things then die? Sure, it would be bad if that happened and some people may be hurt or killed because of it, but I don't think it would be enough to suck up the entire world. To do that, it would have to be bigger than the entire world from the start wouldn't it?

[Mbyte]

Well, I hope the scientists are happy now they've spent billions of pounds so they can smash tiny atoms together...Are we really that sad we can't think of better things to do with government money?????

This is a good point. I think that scientists have done this project for the "greater good" Despite people starving in africa and wars all over the world. I think they are so hell bent on finding meaning that they actually want to know what the meaning is so they no what to do with the starving children in africa. They don't mean anything until the experiment tells them they have meaning.

Edited September 10, 2008 by Mbyte

[LogicalPiccolo]

So what if it isn't a natural occurrence when we do it? It's still the same process and reaction.

The machine is nothing more than a thing that can allow us to watch and measure the reaction. If it hasn't run beyond control in nature, it won't run beyond control in the collider, which even has an glaring advantage over nature - it can be turned off.

Yes, and machines malfunction. Daily. Whether you're talking about something as simple as a blender, or something as big as a supercomputer...cars, printers, mp3 players, all machines have the capacity to malfunction. It was mentioned "The team was holding its breath in the countdown to the switch-on after a series of technical hitches, including problems with the cooling system." So obviously, this machine is no different. To say that this machine can create the exact environment that nature does, or will create the exact environment as the Universe had during the Big Bang, is merely hope and speculation based on scientific research and findings.

Again, no scientist (at least as of yet) has ever found the ultimate and absolute truth. And a machine made by flawed humans, which we all are, has a potential to flaw or have flaws. Thus, they do not know for sure that something will not go wrong. And, they are attempting to forcefully create something that happens naturally by nature's own force and laws which we do not govern. Attempting to act in a governing state in which we do not have full knowledge and control, we are capable of finding new and wonderful things. But potentially, we could find new and horrible things.

Edited September 10, 2008 by LogicalPiccolo

[LogicalPiccolo]

So what if it isn't a natural occurrence when we do it? It's still the same process and reaction.

The machine is nothing more than a thing that can allow us to watch and measure the reaction. If it hasn't run beyond control in nature, it won't run beyond control in the collider, which even has a glaring advantage over nature - it can be turned off.

All you doomsayers have your fun, but be sure to be graceful when your fears come up unfounded. I expect you will all be very quiet when the planet does not explode/implode/get eaten by this thing and you will all move on to fearing something else that shouldn't be.

I'm going to assume you are only speaking to a public that might be panicking or spreading the word of the end of the world.

It is unfair to call everyone who is skeptical of this process a doomsayer. Yes, I have my hesitations about this process. And I believe they are well founded, whether anyone agrees with me or not. But I'm hardly doomsaying anything. And many of us aren't.