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By Hank Campbell | September 9th 2008 01:54 PM | 6 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
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About Hank Campbell

A wise man once said Darwin had the greatest idea anyone ever had. Others may prefer Newton or Archimedes.

Probably no one ever said a website was the greatest idea anyone ever had, but a website... Full Bio

Yes, I am putting my money where my brain is. The LHC is big news ... for about 24 more hours. Heck, watching The Today Show this morning, even Matt Lauer said he was going to Google Dr. Otto Rössler - and it sure means something when they can get my kid to ask if a black hole is really going to consume the Earth on my birthday and why she should have to do her homework if Strangelets are the only things that will see it anyway.

I can't argue with that. I am not sure why I even bothered to write this blog.

Except ... except ... I am just not convinced that Europeans have screwed the pooch on this one.

I get that a black hole consuming the planet is a very bad thing but the only reason it's even conceded as statistically possible is because these are, you know, scientists. 'Infinity' is a big number to scientists and their intellectual honesty is being used against them by conspiracy theorists.

From a practical point of view, the actual energy in each LHC beam is 10 three-pound tubs of Crisco shortening - am I supposed to be afraid of Crisco?

Of course there is the 'men are fallible' argument coupled with the 'didn't the government say Hurricane Katrina would be no problem?' argument. Sure, but no science would ever get done with that mentality. Regarding men and fallibility, there's more room for concern so why put my money on, of all things, French engineers primarily responsible for making sure this thing works? Well, Stephen Hawking is betting $100 the LHC is all hype and won't find the Higgs Boson but I am going a step farther; I will bet $200 the world is not even destroyed, which, if you read popular accounts in the media, is a lot more newsworthy.

That's right, I have twice the confidence of Stephen Hawking and he is a physics genius.

So if you dispute my infallible reasoning, send me your check and I'll put it in escrow.

Doomed? Not by the LHC. Unless this guy gets involved. Then anything can happen:


Comments

Hatice Cullingford's picture
Well, my brother and mother have the same birthday, September 10. Are you prepared for a big party? On the other hand, I read that Hawking told BBC Radio, “However, I think the probability that the LHC has enough energy to create black holes is less than 1 percent, so I’m not holding my breath.” As for me, my position is clear as I expressed it here in LHC Is Not a Fast Reactor (But Is It Also Safe?), I want to do an independent risk assessment of LHC for the future of science. Is Lyn Evans listening? Happy Birthday!
Stellare's picture
Oh, I'm not a betting kind of girl, but I would if I were, a betting kind of girl, bet on non destruction. It'll be the same old, same old, I'm afraid, on this birthday and thereafter too...:-)

And of course: Happy Birthday!





Bente Lilja Bye is the author of Lilja - A bouquet of stories about the Earth

Hank's picture
So I am not getting an easy $200 out of either of you, am I? That's what I get for making my proposal on a science site. :)

I'm still coming to work dressed as Doctor Doom tomorrow.

Becky Jungbauer's picture
First: Happy Birthday! Second: I agree, if Dr. Doom - or even Skeletor, who looks suspiciously like said doctor - were in charge of the LHC, we'd have some serious issues. I hope CERN has He-Man and the Fantastic Four on speed dial.

Well it is September 12 and we are all here. My husband worked on the LHC at Stanford Linear Accelerator. He's a smart guy and works with a bunch of even smarter people.
This is incredibly exciting and some people out there need to read a science book. They may or may not find Higgs, but they will undoubtedly find something. They always do. The accelerator at Stanford has found lots of interesting things. I myself don't understand it a bit and my spouse has tried to explain things to me many times. The Stanford Accelerator has been sitting in Palo Alto for around 50 years, I think, and they haven't blown up anything yet.

boy oh boy, i know it's weeks later, but what if someone like Osama Bin Laden got his hands on this thing, wonder if it could be used for terrorist acts if they used something besides crisco that would make a fun book to read, 'Osama steals LHC and creates blak holes'

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