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Large Hadron Collider

alsoknownas said:
When do they push the big green button? Or have they done that already, and it just went phhhhhht?
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They are still cooling down sections of the collider and that's not an operation that can be hurried. The latest CERN press release reckons that the first beams will start in August. Be aware though that it is a hell of a lot more than just one experiment with a big green start button, and drawing conclusions from the data gathered could take years. :(
 
TheHoodedClaw said:
They are still cooling down sections of the collider and that's not an operation that can be hurried. The latest CERN press release reckons that the first beams will start in August. Be aware though that it is a hell of a lot more than just one experiment with a big green start button, and drawing conclusions from the data gathered could take years. :(
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No, it's okay - I'm just worried about the universe exploding, that sort of thing.
 
_44842493_cms_mbrice_466.jpg


Teh futurez! :D:cool:
 
SpookyFrank said:
Once we find this Higgs Boson hoopajoop, there'll be no more starvation or war or disease right? Only it seems to me like we could be using the staggeringly vast resources that have been, quite literally, poured into a big fuck off hole in the ground to look after humans and then worry about tiny little bits of semi-theoretical quantumly entangled nothingness. Our species is standing on the deck of a sinking ship and squabbling about whether that shape on the horizon was a dolphin or a porpoise.

Is progress towards a pointless goal really progress? Or is it just a very high-tech game of silly buggers?
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Tell you what, since neurosurgery and transplant operations aren't available to 90% of the world's population, lets stop all research into that shall we? Or indeed, let's close ALL the universities, stop all the research and focus on community projects shall we?
 
Well large scale costly research goes on while a billion people are living on less than a dollar a day. Different states have different priorities, and physics has this priority at the moment. If they had been unable to raise the money for the LHC then they would not be doing the research.

They did, because they can, and they are.
 
I suppose we can be glad that this is a peacetime project and as such will probably not be used to create new weapons to exterminate humans more effectively.
 
Or maybe, instead of wiping the whole earth and goodness knows what else off the face of the earth, countries will just be deleted instead.

DELETE: IRAN,(-all oil and resources) etc.

That'd be handy ey.

So it's the 18th of August or what?
 
Anyway, what is the weapons potential of this? Governments don't throw large sums of money into this sort of research without there being a military spin-off.
 
Poi E said:
Anyway, what is the weapons potential of this? Governments don't throw large sums of money into this sort of research without there being a military spin-off.
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shitloads of weapon potential as well as loads of exotic energy spinoffs.
 
Poi E said:
Anyway, what is the weapons potential of this? Governments don't throw large sums of money into this sort of research without there being a military spin-off.
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Perhaps the military could uproot the gigantic chunk of Switzerland and the bit of France that the LHC inhabits, attach it to an imaginary ten-miles-across land-walker and slowly trundle it towards Iraq and blast them with a tiny, tiny beam of accelerated particles. Or maybe you are just a moron. For fucks sake. Honestly. :rolleyes:
 
kyser_soze said:
Tell you what, since neurosurgery and transplant operations aren't available to 90% of the world's population, lets stop all research into that shall we? Or indeed, let's close ALL the universities, stop all the research and focus on community projects shall we?
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Yes lets. At least until everyone has clean water and food.
 
snadge said:
shitloads of weapon potential as well as loads of exotic energy spinoffs.
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Go on then: tell us how you would use the LHC as a weapon. I'm not asking you to design a weapon here on the forums, but seeing as you are such a fucking expert, tell us how? Go on - let us all know. What have you got planned?
 
alsoknownas said:
Yes lets. At least until everyone has clean water and food.
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Ah yes, I suppose you've worked out how throwing a relatively small amount of money in the right direction will permanently solve the world's problems then? And in the meantime society has stopped progressing, the oil's running low and there's no hope of finding new fuel sources.
 
TheHoodedClaw said:
Perhaps the military could uproot the gigantic chunk of Switzerland and the bit of France that the LHC inhabits, attach it to an imaginary ten-miles-across land-walker and slowly trundle it towards Iraq and blast them with a tiny, tiny beam of accelerated particles. Or maybe you are just a moron. For fucks sake. Honestly. :rolleyes:
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Silly little man.

I'm not a particle physicist. Now, please explain in detail, using your superior knowledge, how none of what is being developed has no weapons applications whatsoever. And I don't simply mean the hardware, you fool, but rather the scientific principles being pursued.
 
TheHoodedClaw said:
I imagine if you sell your computer you'd be able to send a few quid towards the cause of your choice.
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That's a sensible suggestion. I'll consider it.
Cid said:
Ah yes, I suppose you've worked out how throwing a relatively small amount of money in the right direction will permanently solve the world's problems then? And in the meantime society has stopped progressing, the oil's running low and there's no hope of finding new fuel sources.
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There's masses of money spent on research. That's the point that the poster was making. Also, providing food and water to the worlds population is not a massive economic problem (in global terms) once you've established the political will. Losing scientific progress (and my computer :() would be a fair sacrifice in reality.
 
Oh there is no doubt that significant advances in physics could well be used for weapons development.

imho
 
alsoknownas said:
That's a sensible suggestion. I'll consider it.

There's masses of money spent on research. That's the point that the poster was making. Also, providing food and water to the worlds population is not a massive economic problem (in global terms) once you've established the political will. Losing scientific progress (and my computer :() would be a fair sacrifice in reality.
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The political will has to be there though, no amount of money will change that (perhaps leaps in science will)... The infrastructure has to be there too, huge amounts of energy will be expended; global fossil fuel consumption is expanding at an insane rate. Without scientific progress we can never er... progress; stagnate and fail. Anyway 2.6 billion between 20 countries is absolutely fuck all, Eurofighter project cost britain £20billion (although that includes quite a few aircraft), £20billion on the Trident upgrades, £4billion+ on these new carriers. Our contribution to the LHC is £34 million/year, fuck all.
 
Poi E said:
Silly little man.
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Well you've won the argument already.

I'm not a particle physicist.
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Clearly not.

Now, please explain in detail, using your superior knowledge, how none of what is being developed has no weapons applications whatsoever. And I don't simply mean the hardware, you fool, but rather the scientific principles being pursued.
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OK.

James Clerk Maxwell figured out the relationship between electricity and magnetism mathematically, his notation isn't used nowadays, but the point of the whole thing is to let Poi E dribble nonsense.

The next great breakthrough is the Michelson-Morley experiment. This experiment establishes that the speed of light is a constant. Many great scientists scratch their heads, and Poi E is a moron.

Albert Einstein considers the implications of an absolute speed limit, comes up with his theory of Special Relativity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity

Einstein knows that someone would have come up with that anyway, given Michelson-Morley. Anyhow, Einstein is aware of other matters. He gets a Nobel prize (eventually) for his work on the photoelectric effect, a quantum pioneer.
 
Anyway, Einstein continues with his large thoughts. His General Theory describes the motion of a body under acceleration, and this is probably the greatest intellectual leap that any single human has ever done. The General Theory has been tested to way and back, and is rock hard.

The other great theory of the 20th century is, of course, the Quantum Theory of matter - again the fundamentals have been tested to an insane degree, but it still seems a bit like madness. If it wasn't for the fact that everyones electrical gear works on those principles, I wouldn't believe it.
 
TheHoodedClaw said:
Go on then: tell us how you would use the LHC as a weapon. I'm not asking you to design a weapon here on the forums, but seeing as you are such a fucking expert, tell us how? Go on - let us all know. What have you got planned?
Click to expand...

where did I say that the LHC could be used for a weapon?

I didn't...

The fundamental processes that "may" be observed of how matter and mass interact though could be.

Do you actually know what you are discussing BTW?

What have you got planned?

Anyway, hasn't the speed of light to be constant been proved to be pretty flaky? nearly constant but depending on other "distractions"?
 
TheHoodedClaw said:
Erm.....potentially.
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I am debating with a fool.

I did not say that the LHC could be used for a weapon, the information and technology could be though.

The LHC is a study facility, the results from experiments will be available to all participating funders, if certain theories are valid, which I believe they are, the potential for further technological leaps are limitless, including weapons and certain forms of exotic energy production.

are you with us yet, the LHC is the first step, research after particle interaction has been confirmed would allow funding for other projects, military, civilian and new TV shows.

And a few sci fi type Hollywood blockbusters.

I noticed you didn't mention the energy side of the coin.
 
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