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The Potential for Danger in Particle Collider Experiments | The News is NowPublic.com — Ok, let me summarize. With no real math or proof or anything much more than sketchy guesses and the application of the ubiquitous “better be safe than sorry” rule, some folks predict the end of times because of the Hadron Collider at CERN.
Here’s what they predict. When this thing cranks up it will accidentally produce one mini-black hole (MBH) per minute. These will quickly gravitate directly to the earth’s core where they will join up to form a bigger black hole that will suck the entire earth into itself. Since a real black hole is a phenomenon stemming from the collapse of massive stars with hard-to-fathom cosmic forces it would be amazing to duplicate the process with a machine in Switzerland. Meanwhile, all of mankind cannot find a cure for the common cold. OK, right.
The CERN study [Ref. 1] is a remake of a similar study for the earlier Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven (RHIC) [Ref. 6] adapted to the LHC.
It is important to notice that: The study for the RHIC had concluded that no black holes will be created. For the LHC the conclusion is very different: “Black holes could be created!” !
The main danger could be now just behind our door with the possible death in blood of 6.500.000.000 (US notation 6,500,000,000) people and complete destruction of our beautiful planet. Such a danger shows the need of a far larger study before any experiment ! The CERN study presents risk as a choice between a 100% risk or a 0% risk. This is not a good evaluation of a risk percentage!
If we add all the risks for the LHC we could estimate an overall risk between 11% and 25%!.
We are far from the Adrian Kent’s admonition that global risks that should not exceed 0.000001% a year to have a chance to be acceptable. [Ref. 3] .Even testing the LHC could be dangerous. Even an increase in the luminosity of the RHIC could be dangerous! It would be wise to consider that the more powerful the accelerator will be, the more unpredicted and dangerous the events that may occur! We cannot build accelerators always more powerful with interactions different from natural interactions, without risk. This is not a scientific problem. This is a wisdom problem!
Our desire of knowledge is important but our desire of wisdom is more important and must take precedence. The precautionary principle indicates not to experiment. The politicians must understand this evidence and stop these experiments before it is too late!
As an aside I have to show this brain-dead video about the collider done by the Times. You could take this footage and overlay just about any commentary you wanted since it looks to be a dopey series of stock footage from this and that. There are guys writing formulas on a blackboard. People are pointing. Buildings are shown. A guy is walking. It’s laughable. The British voice-over makes it even more ludicrous. All that is missing is a train going into a tunnel.
Found by Mad Dog Mike.
Clinton is ‘to blame’. You can say budget cuts all you want, but the real reason was because Texas voted in a Republican Senator to replace the new Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, with nearly 80% of the vote. I’m glad they shut it down, and wish the Inter. Space Station has gone down too. It survived by a narrow vote, and then NASA spread the jobs around the country.
Everyone taking mass transit – everyone dead. No difference. It would be good to be wiped out by a science experiment rather than AGW stupidity. Less embarassing at least.
John, I don’t know where to put this comment but I want to tell you I love you on TWIT but you absolutely have to stop eating on the radio it’s disgusting. I don’t know if you can’t hear it or think listeners don’t but man it’s gross. If the collidor won’t kill us your chewing will.
Apparently the chances of it producing a small black hole that swallows the earth is on the order of probability that it will cause a grilled cheese sandwich to materialize in the particle beam.
How many colliders can we build from a single month’s expenditures on the iraqi and afghan wars?
Can anybody do the math?
YOU ALL FUCKING SMELL I HOPE YOU ALL GET SUCKED UP !
well i thought that comment above was very true and that the rest of the people who posted here should all go and get a life. Especially if they are americans coz all they can do is shoot their own troops !
YOU ALL FUCK YOUR MUMS AND YOUR DADS AT THE SAME TIME YOU PROSTITUTES!
OH AND THE ADMINS OF THIS FORUM ARE GAY
so, you reckon the people that are having an honest debate about something revoultionary should get get a life? perhaps you should move yourself and do something in life rather than insult everyone for talking about things YOU THREE clearly dont understand. As the for the ‘ i hate america’ thing, they are the most powerful country in the world, they can afford to be insulted, and i dont think they will mind from three little idiots trying to look big. i dislike George Bush, but no one can place a blame to anyone, it is human nature to want to find things out, its who we are, now if we all explode tomorrow, or get sucked up, then thats what will happen and at least we tried, and if not, then well done to the scientists, and may it produce great results, but arguing on here for someone to blame is hardly going to save us all. Perhaps we should tell the people who we love that we indeed do love them, for this really could be the end, as well as all the other days predicted to be so, spend the time wisely.
Isn’t this what got us in trouble in the first place, trying to be like God in the Garden of Eden. There is only one.