The Large Hadron Collider went online today. That's a LARGE circle underground that is going to work on particle physics. Lots of people are warning that, as the speed of the particles approaches the speed of light, our whole planet is going to disappear down a black hole... or something like that.
Sounds sort of Y2Kish. But hey, I'm good with God. As good as I'm going to get, anyway, given the amount of time I've been alive. If the world ends, I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
Meanwhile, here's a very nicely done rap explanation of the fun LHC thing under Switzerland and France. Thank you to my DH, who posted it on his facebook after we enjoyed it much last night.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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I did a lot of reading on this . . . even though the risk of micro black holes or strangelings is pretty low, it's still pretty scary to think about. No one even knows if the theories that would allow these things to exist - they probably arent' - and even if they were, the probability of these things happening is still low. It's just scary that we're starting to take risks with the entire earth - at some point, we're going to have to decide how much risk is too much. And it won't be us deciding, probably, it will be scientists and politicians.
ReplyDeleteI can't watch the rap since my work machine doesn't have sound, but I will check it out later.
So, yeah, scary in a sci-fi / horror kind of way. Like zombies.
That was one of the funniest things I have ever seen! That is great! I must say (to piggyback on Ethel), that as I used to be one of those scientists rather callously playing with the fate of the universe, I wish that there were more reverence and respect in science. There is so much pride that it is amazing we ever got anything done and sometimes we didn't. I highly recommend Darwin's Black Box and Happy Accidents to all scientists out there who think they are all that. Read Happy Accidents first, it is easier for the science brain to digest. Unfortunately, I don't think this blog has a high professional scientist readership.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the zombies must be played! we need a game night, but first we need a date night, so it might be a long time before we role play the zombie apocalypse.
(consider this, change one letter and you get apocalypso... is calypso the music of the end times or should we just be drinking more rum punch and laying one the beach?)
Oh, I SO want to volunteer to babysit so you get a date night, Rikki-san, but I'd better wait a couple of weeks to get back into work / healthy living routine first. Ask me in a couple of weeks if I can sit for you some night. It probably will be a Saturday, not a Friday, as I am exhausted from the work week on Fridays and need to recoup. And I need to clear with the DH, as he is Head of All Things Home and Family.
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