The point is, it can’t happen

Not true at all. All the scientists admit it is a possibility. The debate is concerning the odds. Unlike the other examples of risk you cite, this is the only example that could destroy the planet. This is why even the slightest risk is unacceptable. They must first know how to contain black holes before experimenting to create them. This is reckless.

That is not oversight. Oversight means somebody who is in a position to accept responsibility who ALSO understand the risks. These scientists are not accepting any responsibility. They are just experimenting and putting everybody at risk – literally everybody.

keep the change on January 27, 2009 at 6:23 PM

Ok again, my question is: whom is it exactly that you happen to recommend? Anyone in particular who actually understands this? Somebody who can look Stephen Hawking in the eye and say “You know what? You might be wrong and here’s why…” and goes to show exactly why Sir Stephen is wrong? With actual science, mind you.

If not, why would such a person have any authority on this at all?

And I think you guys are really missing the point. The point is, it can’t happen. There’s more chance of a meteorite falling right now and wiping out the earth forever than there is of this causing any damage whatsoever aside from blowing up a few extra protons in an incredibly empty space. You’re scared of a nothing right now. You should be more scared of crossing the street than you should be of the LHC blowing anything up whatsoever. Hell, there’s more chance of one of our own nuclear bombs going off simply by virtue of quantum chance than there is of a “black hole” in the LHC suddenly gobbling up anything more than a few stray particles. I think you guys just hate science and do anything you can to try to denigrate “those scientists”. =)

Seems like your picture of scientists are all mad eggheads in white lab coats trying to change the world for their own benefit and not yours. That isn’t how it is.

Okay so your suggestion to oversee this project would be….?

Summer on January 27, 2009 at 6:19 PM

I agree is there only a minuscule probability that something will go wrong. In that circumstance, it would be very hard for someone to put their career on the line to say wait a minute, maybe there is one little detail that we haven’t checked umpteen times, everyone go home while we do that. Like the o-rings in cold temperatures on the shuttle.

I don’t know that there is anyone whose career is sufficiently safe to give an open minded assessment of the risks, but they need to be found. There are too many examples of groups of people getting caught up in their own part and not seeing the big picture. If that kind of assessment has been done, fine, but did they consider the angle raised in this latest paper.

It just seems to me that the comparison to cosmic rays is not adequate, because first of all we don’t even understand where they come from, and second they are much more diffuse than the events in the LHC.

The oversight is from the top minds in their fields of the scientific community.

That is not oversight. Oversight means somebody who is in a position to accept responsibility who ALSO understand the risks. These scientists are not accepting any responsibility. They are just experimenting and putting everybody at risk – literally everybody.

This is what socialists do. They take billions of dollars of taxpayer money, do crazy experiments all in the name of bettering society, and no one is accountable when they screw up. Usually, however, they just destroy cultures or economies. Now they are tinkering with something that can destroy the world, but the mindset is the same.

You’ve put your finger right on the problem. Money does funny things to people.

pedestrian on January 27, 2009 at 6:16 PM

Okay so your suggestion to oversee this project would be….?

Who else would be qualified to oversee this other than the scientists themselves?

Summer on January 27, 2009 at 5:57 PM

You’ve put your finger right on the problem. Money does funny things to people.

robblefarian on January 27, 2009 at 5:48 PM

We’re talkin about ‘Bama here. I mean, I don’t know, maybe they have an awesome physics department! It’s totally possible.

But we are talkin about ‘Bama here.

Unfortunately, there tends to be a huge anti-junk science movement in the core base of Conservatives at the moment.

Summer on January 27, 2009 at 4:51 PM</blockqu

There is no oversight on this project. These people are just experimenting with forces they can’t control. They science is not well understood enough. Unfortunately, in order indulge their intellectual curiosities, they have to put everybody at risk. That is not kosher scientific practice.

keep the change on January 27, 2009 at 5:09 PM

Wrong.

The oversight is from the top minds in their fields of the scientific community. They are the experts. Who better to determine together the risks of doing something like this? Would you, instead, wish for politicians to say whether or not they are right? Most politicians wouldn’t even be able to get through the first chapter of a book which describes the fundamentals of the physics involved in this project. Who else would be qualified to oversee this other than the scientists themselves?