End of the world is nigh

[John Fenna]

I hope that they do not destroy the universe before I have my holiday!

 

[Greg]

Well if it all goes P-Tong, within the next few months it will definately blow the 21/12/2012 theory out of the water!!

 

[Pantalaimon]

Pfieuw.... still alive!

But already one person died 'from' experiment.
A 16 year old girl from India was so afraid from the end of the world and the coming of black holes that she committed suicide.

Dutch source

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

Not to worry it's always beeen there, Barnsley's been around for years

Hahaha. :You_Rock_

 

[Barn Owl]

Listening to some interviews today on radio news,I felt that they were relieved that nothing had gone wrong so far.

I wasn't bothered about this until I heard that!

And the 'bang' is still to come.

 

[phaserrifle]

Listening to some interviews today on radio news,I felt that they were relieved that nothing had gone wrong so far.

I wasn't bothered about this until I heard that!

And the 'bang' is still to come.

That could be more:
"lucky we haven't found out all our theories where wrong"
OR
"lucky we haven't broken our multi-million pound toy due to a missplaced decimal point in the programming"
THAN
"lucky we haven't destroyed life as we know it/ the earth/ the universe"

 

[Pantalaimon]

Now, let them fill the ground above it with solar cells and wind turbines to (try to) generate the energy they use!

 

[JohnC]

My 8yo son Joe, came home and asked me about the "black hole" that people were talking about at school, I was initially going to make light of it, until i realised he was actually worried that something was going to happen, his big worry was with Jane at work and his brother at school camp, we wouldnt be able to help them. It took a while of talking it through, and, oddly enough, telling him that some of the people from the Bushcraft site (who he's met) "thought things will be ok" to settle him... I can only guess at the talk in the playground

 

[woodstock]

To try and replicate the big bang THEORY by smashing atoms together at near the speed of light = bad idea

 

[Eric_Methven]

Yup, my granddaughter told me at least three times this morning before going to school that the world was going to end. She was genuinely terrified. The poor kid has learning difficulties and took some calming down.

Eric

 

[Toddy]

Well, yes, but..........it's interesting

If I've got my Physics right they're only trying to reproduce a tiny 'event' that happens, in huge numbers, naturally, anyway
The only difference is that it is in a controlled and recordable / manipulatable environment.

I did like Google's avatar for the day though

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Brendan]

Cern will not cause the end of the world , my money is with Hawking, they won't find Higgs Boson or "God particle" because their theory is flawed.
Science will always struggle to find God until the scientists that are looking look into themselves.

 

[Shewie]

I heard on a program on BBC4 last night that, if they had been colliding the particles together in that tunnel since our universe was created however many millions of years ago, they would only have produced enough energy to light a light bulb for around 30 seconds.

When you here it like that it doesn`t sound so bad after all.


Rich

 

[Wayland]

Johnie Walker said on Radio Two this morning, "If it's that safe, Why did they bury it so deep in the ground?"

I think that is part of why the story has created such universal concern.

I suspect it's just because they want a neutral environment for the experiments but many people are genuinely worried about it.

It makes a change from talking about the weather.

 

[gregorach]

Well, yes, but..........it's interesting

If I've got my Physics right they're only trying to reproduce a tiny 'event' that happens, in huge numbers, naturally, anyway
The only difference is that it is in a controlled and recordable / manipulatable environment.

Yes, exactly right Mary. The reason it's underground is to shield the experiments from interference.

Cern will not cause the end of the world , my money is with Hawking, they won't find Higgs Boson or "God particle" because their theory is flawed.
Science will always struggle to find God until the scientists that are looking look into themselves.

They're not trying to "find God", they're trying to find out what mass is. The term "God particle" is not scientifically accurate.

 

[Matt.S]

My physicist housemate (who is quite clued-up on this) reports that the most powerful collision they could create with this collider has the same energy of two mosquitoes flying into one another.

 

[British Red]

In my opinion people are perfectly correct to question and doubt the assurances of scientists. History is as littered with scientists who were wrong and who damaged lives as it is with those who were right and saved lives. Consider both mistakes where science has been over confident (Thalidamide) to where the focus was too much on "can I" and not enough on "should I" (The "destroyer of worlds" Mr Oppenheimer springs to mind). Science, as in anything else, should not be given a free hand where safety is concerned. Where an outcome is both uncertain and potentially dangerous I believe the public, and governments have every right to be concerned about and indeed prevent research.

I don't know enough about Cern to hold an opinion but I certainly hold opinions on many subjects where, in my opinion only, scientific research should be rigourously controlled if not wholly prevented. Some of the early attempts at genetic splicing spring to mind in that way. Science can be a wonderful thing and indeed a terrible thing. The scientific community have shown they are not always best placed to jusdge which they are at any point in time

Red

 

[gregorach]

Oh my God... The LHC hasn't destroyed the world, but it seems that these baseless fears about it have destroyed someone's world: Indian girl commits suicide over 'Big Bang' fear.

I hope all the doom-sayers are happy now. An entire world has been destroyed.

 

[Wayland]

Very sad but fear is a natural human reaction to something that is not understood.

If the scientists involved had spent even a fraction of their budget on educating the public about what is actually going on then this hysteria might not have occurred.

If it's worth doing then it's worth explaining what you are doing.

 

[gregorach]

They've done loads of explaining. It's just that the media has preferred not to listen, because it got in the way of their story.