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The World Ends Tomorrow... - Page 3

post #101 of 122
3/31/10 at 8:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul C View Post
The web stream and CERN twitter feed were a lark to follow yesterday:

http://twitter.com/CERN

Is there anything more charming than a bunch of scientists getting all giddy and excitable over doing science?
I know. Yesterday I had a window with their twitter, the webcast and the charts showing the experiments open all day long. I only have a limited knowledge of physics but I felt I'd be letting my nerd self down if I didn't watch this live.
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post #102 of 122
3/31/10 at 10:42am
I cant be the only one who imagines Simon Pegg's Scotty voice reading those tweets, right?
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post #103 of 122
3/31/10 at 11:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ryoken View Post
I cant be the only one who imagines Simon Pegg's Scotty voice reading those tweets, right?
Same here, it doesn't help that Simon Pegg was retweeting some of CERN's posts.
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post #104 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelios View Post
What odds? There was zero chance of anything happening. Zero. Or as close to absolute zero as statistically possible.
A statistically insignificant chance does not equal absolutely no chance whatsoever.

In a normal game of chance, the most you have to lose is your own financial security or life. In this, in the absolute worst case scenario, you generate a series of self-sustaining miniature blackholes that destroy the earth and all life on it. I'm not sure what kind of knowledge one can gain from that that justifies entering that sort of lottery, no matter how long the odds are.
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post #105 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:23pm
I got Cuchulain's back on this one. Insanity. It's just like in THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. Those egghead jerks didn't care about consequences either! Science is outta control.
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post #106 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:39pm
I don't know about any of you, but if I was to pick the way to go, death by multiple black holes would probably be close to the top of the list.
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post #107 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
I don't know about any of you, but if I was to pick the way to go, death by multiple black holes would probably be close to the top of the list.
You bet your bibby.
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post #108 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:44pm
Yeah, but I want to pick when!

It's a control issue. I know we can't pick when and how we die, but I don't want to be thinking about that shit every time I click on CNN. Who could possibly feel good about a bunch of nerds rolling even a gazillion dice on erasing us? I at least want the planet to be around afterward, for space archaeologists and whatnot.
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post #109 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cuchulain View Post
A statistically insignificant chance does not equal absolutely no chance whatsoever.

In a normal game of chance, the most you have to lose is your own financial security or life. In this, in the absolute worst case scenario, you generate a series of self-sustaining miniature blackholes that destroy the earth and all life on it. I'm not sure what kind of knowledge one can gain from that that justifies entering that sort of lottery, no matter how long the odds are.
Do you understand that an event would have to occur that hasn't happened in all the observable universe despite having hundreds of million of chances? Not to mention that it isn't even possible according to our current understanding of particle physics? The earth has an infinitely larger chance to get hit by a comet, a meteor and a huge solar storm simultaneously than for the LHC to destroy it. Do you live in a bunker in case there's a malfunction to the control systems of Russia's nuclear arsenal and WWIII breaks out, too?
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post #110 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelios View Post
Do you understand that an event would have to occur that hasn't happened in all the observable universe despite having hundreds of million of chances?
What were the other chances? In my limited understanding, I thought this device and what it was built to do was on the "unprecedented" side of things.
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post #111 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelios View Post
Do you understand that an event would have to occur that hasn't happened in all the observable universe despite having hundreds of million of chances? Not to mention that it isn't even possible according to our current understanding of particle physics?
Unless I'm wildly mistaken, isn't the whole point of the experiment to put our current understanding of particle physics to the test? That is, to do something so extraordinary that it allows us a chance to see whether or not particles we pretty much use as placeholders in current physics do, in fact, exist? I think it's a little bit foolhardy to think something completely unexpected is just not going to happen.
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post #112 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:58pm
"Forget it, Stelios, its Higgs Boson!"
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post #113 of 122
3/31/10 at 2:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by elsnakeo View Post
Same here, it doesn't help that Simon Pegg was retweeting some of CERN's posts.
If a CERN tweet asked for a towel, i would had lost it.
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post #114 of 122
3/31/10 at 3:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny View Post
I don't know about any of you, but if I was to pick the way to go, death by multiple black holes would probably be close to the top of the list.
I concur.
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post #115 of 122
3/31/10 at 5:14pm
I think you guys are missing out on a crucial element here: if the LHC does create a black hole that destroys the planet, it will be enacting the plot of Dan Simmons early sci-fi novels.

Screw ending all life on Earth, do any of you want to take on the slimmest odds of making Dan Simmons right about something?
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post #116 of 122
3/31/10 at 5:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
What were the other chances? In my limited understanding, I thought this device and what it was built to do was on the "unprecedented" side of things.
To quote Cern's website:"Over the past billions of years, Nature has already generated on Earth as many collisions as about a million LHC experiments – and the planet still exists. Astronomers observe an enormous number of larger astronomical bodies throughout the Universe, all of which are also struck by cosmic rays. The Universe as a whole conducts more than 10 million million LHC-like experiments per second. The possibility of any dangerous consequences contradicts what astronomers see - stars and galaxies still exist."

What LHC does is unprecedented for us. Not for the universe. Comparing the LHC to the forces constantly at play in the universe is like comparing a man sneezing to an F5 tornado.
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post #117 of 122
3/31/10 at 5:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schwartz View Post
I think you guys are missing out on a crucial element here: if the LHC does create a black hole that destroys the planet, it will be enacting the plot of Dan Simmons early sci-fi novels.

Screw ending all life on Earth, do any of you want to take on the slimmest odds of making Dan Simmons right about something?
It never going to happen so we are safe.

My bet is THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER does not prove any or most of the theories it was built to prove. Not saying it will not prove any theories, just not most of the ones most people think it will. I think before it is over with it will cause a revolution in physics.
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post #118 of 122
4/2/10 at 3:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelios View Post
To quote Cern's website:"Over the past billions of years, Nature has already generated on Earth as many collisions as about a million LHC experiments – and the planet still exists. Astronomers observe an enormous number of larger astronomical bodies throughout the Universe, all of which are also struck by cosmic rays. The Universe as a whole conducts more than 10 million million LHC-like experiments per second. The possibility of any dangerous consequences contradicts what astronomers see - stars and galaxies still exist."

What LHC does is unprecedented for us. Not for the universe. Comparing the LHC to the forces constantly at play in the universe is like comparing a man sneezing to an F5 tornado.
Yes, this. I think there's a certain human arrogance in railing about how man's science is going to destroy the world; it's a wild overestimation of our power. Compared to the forces constantly at play in the natural universe, man's science is handheld sparklers. If our planet were that unstable, it would have ceased to exist long before we came along.
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post #119 of 122
4/2/10 at 12:07pm
And to think just last week I acquiesced to watching Angels & Demons. Have they made the antimatter bomb yet?
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post #120 of 122
4/2/10 at 12:16pm
I think the success of Dan Brown is the reason that they decided to go ahead and switch the thing on. What have we got to lose at this point?
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post #121 of 122
4/2/10 at 2:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
Yeah, but I want to pick when!

I know we can't pick when and how we die...

Sure we can. It's called suicide.
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post #122 of 122
4/2/10 at 2:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trav McGee View Post
And to think just last week I acquiesced to watching Angels & Demons. Have they made the antimatter bomb yet?
I really don't think it can produce that much energy, let alone destroy the world. People have a tendency to either forget or ignore the laws of thermodynamics. Any collider of significant size can make some antimatter, mostly by accident.
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