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The LHC - 1 Ton of Liquid Helium hits the floor, delayed for at least 2 months
String theory's proponents chill my scientific blood. The way they talk about it seems decidedly unrational "but it's so elegant!" does not make it an argument over any other hypothesis - which is my other contentious point, it should not be called a theory - it's a hypothesis, as much as any other competing GUT of which there are many.
But it's so elegant!
Drez on
Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
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The Black HunterThe key is a minimum of compromise, and a simple,unimpeachable reason to existRegistered Userregular
One advantage of the LHC is that it's every geek and nerds favorite project, so it appears they didn't try to do any serious damage just yell at whoever's a sysadmin.
That's pretty amusing.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
"It's so elegant" is not necessarily an invalid argument, it just needs to be backed up with some testable hypothesis so you can actually differentiate between theories, otherwise the point is moot. Elegance and the fact that the theory is derived instead of constructed is often used as a strong point of Relativity for instance (and as such, in opposition to Tensor-Vector-Scalar gravity and all it's offshoots in the Dark Matter discussion).
The problem with String theory is that the predictions they do make are all on a scale that's completely untestable. So from a pragmatic viewpoint, none of these theories have any use at all.
Some have suggested that this publicity stunt reflects how chemists are envious of physicists. But the Society has dismissed the suggestion that it was suffering from "professional jealousy". "Far from it. The RSC congratulates the physics community with nothing but admiration for their amazing project - it just has a very boring name."
One advantage of the LHC is that it's every geek and nerds favorite project, so it appears they didn't try to do any serious damage just yell at whoever's a sysadmin.
That's pretty amusing.
Of course, by "LHC" the media means "the LHC website" .. which isn't much of a worry.
I don't know if this has been linked yet, but here's an "LHC simulator". It's a cute little hands on thing if you're interested in getting a really rough idea of what the LHC does. http://www.particledetectives.net/LHC/LHC_project.html
MORE responses to sightings of 'orange lights' UFOs near Louth have been pouring into the Leader – with some wondering if recent UFO activity is connected to the Large Hadron Collider experiment in Geneva.
A man called Anthony from Wales emailed a similar account of what he saw: "I was having a cigarette outside my front door on Saturday at around 9pm and I looked over the roof tops and saw two orange-red glowing lights coming from over the hill where I live.
"I called my wife and daughter to come and have a look, then a third light followed the other two. My wife phoned her father who lives not far away and he saw them too. I then went to get my camera but by the time I got it out the lights just vanished. Not knowing what they were I decided to search the net to see if any one has seen the same as us and I came across your picture which is exactly what we saw.
"We live in a little village in Swansea and after 47 years of looking up at night this is the first UFO I have ever seen."
He added: "Could it be something to do with that experiment they are doing under ground in Geneva letting out pockets of energy or something?"
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, intended to smash protons together in the hope of learning more about the Big Bang theory. It was turned on to much international press interest last week despite some scientists calling for the experiment to be stopped, in fear it could lead to the formation of mini black holes, which could expand and swallow the Earth.
Rachel Rijsdijk emailing from The Netherlands said she also saw similar orange lights last Saturday: "On Saturday night a week ago I was driving on the highway, past a city called Eindhoven, and I saw three orange round lights high in the sky. They were not moving, but hanging in a triangle form."
Reg Lambert from Rugby emailed to tell us about his own recent experience: "I and three others saw an orange light travelling south-west to north-east over Rugby at about 8pm.
"It was travelling quite fast and was above the height of a few clouds around at an estimated height of 5000ft. A few minutes after disappearing from view it reappeared travelling in the opposite direction."
He added: "There was no flicker or variation, or colour change, and it was in a straight line."
David Hinde from North Yorkshire is adament such sightings are not sky lanterns after witnessing some strange lights in the sky near his home: "I have seen the orange/red spheres in the skies above Speeton, moving in ways no conventional aircraft move - diagonal, vertical and horizontal movements, with no sound and no vapour trails - definitely not sky lanterns."
Theorising on where the UFOs came from, he concluded: "I am personally of the opinion that these objects are not of this world and believe that there is a continued cover up."
I had to re-read that a couple of times, when they mentioned the fire brigade being called out. It sounded like they were there because of the overheating . . . but "overheating" still means -170'C
I went on vacation for about a week, so I apologize if bringing something from that long ago up again is a breach of etiquette.
Anyway, I went and looked up magnetic monopoles and why people thought they might kill us all. Apparently, the concern was that they could cause the decay of protons, breaking them down into gluons and muons and releasing large amounts of energy in the process. The arguments against it from CERN are the usual ones: if the LHC could create them, then they would have already been created by cosmic rays hitting the upper atmosphere long ago, and we haven't all died yet so there's nothing to worry about, plus even if we did make monopoles and they did decay some protons, an insignificant amount would be destroyed before the monopoles went hurtling off into space and we never saw them again.
So, there we have it. All doomsday scenarios related to the LHC disproved.
However... All the sites I went to warning about the "dangers" of the LHC liked to harp on the point that Hawking radiation is an unproven theory. Even without Hawking radiation, the micro black holes formed (if any) would have event horizons smaller than an electron and would go flying through the Earth and off to someplace we don't care about anyway, just like the ones that may or may not be forming above us at this very moment, so again, no cause for alarm. But are these people correct in their statement that Hawking radiation has not been proven? I was under the impression that we had observed black holes throwing off energy and this had in fact proven that Hawking radiation was real.
Finally, one thing that has occurred to me during all of this debunking of the paranoia surrounding the LHC, something that actually almost has me worried. Time and again, we hear that the LHC isn't doing anything that doesn't happen around our planet on a daily basis, and that the only difference is that the LHC is doing it in a controlled environment in which we will be able to observe the results. Doesn't this bring Quantum Uncertainty and waveform probability into play? Mind you, I do not claim to have a perfect understanding of these concepts, and forgive me if I am completely off base, but I think my grasp of it exceeds that of the average layperson. Now, yes, these things happen all the time and nothing bad has come of it yet, but could that be due to the fact that they have occurred in a quantum state, without the waveform collapsed by observation? By observing the processes that take place within the LHC once the collisions begin, we could change them, taking them out of a quantum state and collapsing the probability waveform into a single outcome. By negating all other possibilities, might we not arrive at an outcome that would have a negative effect on us? And, in so doing, if we figured out how to look for these things thanks to the LHC experiments and scientists turned their instruments skyward, would they not then be collapsing the wave in regards to those previously harmless collisions in our atmosphere, taking them out of a quantum state and unleashing those same negative consequences on a much larger scale?
The interesting thing about that whole concept is that, as a "doomsday scenario," it actually leaves the LHC itself relatively harmless; it would be the sensors that were dangerous.
Glorph on
Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
- Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
- Balance, in all things.
- There cannot be two skies.
I'm not quite sure I understand. Would it be like in SimCity where you try to level out 1 square to a certain height with street tiles and it ends up adjusting the height for the surrounding 9 tiles? Provided the entire universe was within those 9 tiles, and you had some really primo buildings on that land?
Well, as I understand it, that is a fairly accurate oversimplification (if there is such a thing).
The basic idea is that everything in this universe, the way physics and chemistry and biology work, from the behavior and composition of the simplest elementary particle to the complex electrochemical processes that take place in the human brain and everything between, before, and beyond, all depends on the idea that the vacuum our universe exists in is in the lowest possible state. Basically, the vacuum is zero, and everything else counts up from there. However, if it turns out that we are living in a false vacuum, then that means what all the laws of the universe thought was zero has actually been something else, like, let's just say for simplicity's sake, two. The concern was that the LHC could form a "vacuum bubble," a space whose vacuum differs from our own, and if we exist in a false vacuum, then the vacuum bubble would cause our false vacuum to break down and the true vacuum would take over. If that were to happen, it would drastically alter the way all the laws of the universe work, making the universe as we know it impossible and changing it into something else entirely that we would not be capable of existing in.
So, I guess it's less like clicking that tile in SimCity and leveling the surrounding tiles, and more like clicking that tile and all of a sudden the game turns into Civilization, but you still have all the same controls and property that you did in SimCity, making it impossible for you to play, let alone win.
Or maybe it's more like you level that tile and it reformats your hard drive, then installs a completely different OS.
Any of the resident physics experts, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Glorph on
Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
- Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
- Balance, in all things.
- There cannot be two skies.
Besides, that whole scenario is absolutely ridiculous. Everyone knows the CN Tower would do that LONG before the Eiffel Tower would.
Fixed for those damn Canadians.
What, you mean not everyone in the world knows what the Space Needle is? Well, doesn't matter anyway, who cares if Canadians don't understand it. It doesn't have to do with beer or hockey or moose, so how could they?
</kidding>
Glorph on
Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
- Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
- Balance, in all things.
- There cannot be two skies.
about the waveform collapse: As far as I understand it particles can function as regular particles and as waves and can be treated as both for the sake of experiments or observation. So particles will function as particles or waves in nature without observation.
The uncertainty principal simply dictates that the closer you observe something the more likely it will be that you effect the thing you are observing and alter the result of the test.
Posts
Man, you'd never be able to shut up an Atheist if that happened.
"See, our God can at least be proved scientifically."
Currently DMing: None
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[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Wait, just the one? o_O
Man that'd be the worst thing it could do
Get the lyrics right.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
I'll never understand the hatred that exists for string theory.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
String theory has made one, and only one, really observable prediction: that the universe has at least 10 dimensions.
You will note that the universe does not, in fact, appear to have 10 dimensions.
Most of the theory consists of explaining away the fact that its chief prediction does not match observation.
But it's so elegant!
Tell me teaspoon
Were your dreams horribly crushed?
The mugger I tried to stop was... amused. And then he took me to an alley and we had some intimate moments. Just him and me. All alone.
Oh god, it still hurts.
That's pretty amusing.
The problem with String theory is that the predictions they do make are all on a scale that's completely untestable. So from a pragmatic viewpoint, none of these theories have any use at all.
LHC's name is now 'Halo'
keep an eye out for any 4-jawed aliens in the near future
Of course, by "LHC" the media means "the LHC website" .. which isn't much of a worry.
well, a good chunk of video game stories play out like this. Super duper experiment goes haywire and fun ensues.
by fun I mean people get eaten by demons/aliens.
I'm hoping Civilization V has it as a wonder.
Story Here
The article you linked to says it's already been taken care of.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Almost the speed of light, you might say.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
http://www.particledetectives.net/LHC/LHC_project.html
I wouldn't expect anything else. I mean, there are so many parts to this thing it would be weird for it not to have some issues.
Supercollider
I hope the screen will randomly go blank and the words "You have entered a false vacuum, everyone loses."
Anyway, I went and looked up magnetic monopoles and why people thought they might kill us all. Apparently, the concern was that they could cause the decay of protons, breaking them down into gluons and muons and releasing large amounts of energy in the process. The arguments against it from CERN are the usual ones: if the LHC could create them, then they would have already been created by cosmic rays hitting the upper atmosphere long ago, and we haven't all died yet so there's nothing to worry about, plus even if we did make monopoles and they did decay some protons, an insignificant amount would be destroyed before the monopoles went hurtling off into space and we never saw them again.
So, there we have it. All doomsday scenarios related to the LHC disproved.
However... All the sites I went to warning about the "dangers" of the LHC liked to harp on the point that Hawking radiation is an unproven theory. Even without Hawking radiation, the micro black holes formed (if any) would have event horizons smaller than an electron and would go flying through the Earth and off to someplace we don't care about anyway, just like the ones that may or may not be forming above us at this very moment, so again, no cause for alarm. But are these people correct in their statement that Hawking radiation has not been proven? I was under the impression that we had observed black holes throwing off energy and this had in fact proven that Hawking radiation was real.
Finally, one thing that has occurred to me during all of this debunking of the paranoia surrounding the LHC, something that actually almost has me worried. Time and again, we hear that the LHC isn't doing anything that doesn't happen around our planet on a daily basis, and that the only difference is that the LHC is doing it in a controlled environment in which we will be able to observe the results. Doesn't this bring Quantum Uncertainty and waveform probability into play? Mind you, I do not claim to have a perfect understanding of these concepts, and forgive me if I am completely off base, but I think my grasp of it exceeds that of the average layperson. Now, yes, these things happen all the time and nothing bad has come of it yet, but could that be due to the fact that they have occurred in a quantum state, without the waveform collapsed by observation? By observing the processes that take place within the LHC once the collisions begin, we could change them, taking them out of a quantum state and collapsing the probability waveform into a single outcome. By negating all other possibilities, might we not arrive at an outcome that would have a negative effect on us? And, in so doing, if we figured out how to look for these things thanks to the LHC experiments and scientists turned their instruments skyward, would they not then be collapsing the wave in regards to those previously harmless collisions in our atmosphere, taking them out of a quantum state and unleashing those same negative consequences on a much larger scale?
The interesting thing about that whole concept is that, as a "doomsday scenario," it actually leaves the LHC itself relatively harmless; it would be the sensors that were dangerous.
- Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
- Balance, in all things.
- There cannot be two skies.
Well, as I understand it, that is a fairly accurate oversimplification (if there is such a thing).
The basic idea is that everything in this universe, the way physics and chemistry and biology work, from the behavior and composition of the simplest elementary particle to the complex electrochemical processes that take place in the human brain and everything between, before, and beyond, all depends on the idea that the vacuum our universe exists in is in the lowest possible state. Basically, the vacuum is zero, and everything else counts up from there. However, if it turns out that we are living in a false vacuum, then that means what all the laws of the universe thought was zero has actually been something else, like, let's just say for simplicity's sake, two. The concern was that the LHC could form a "vacuum bubble," a space whose vacuum differs from our own, and if we exist in a false vacuum, then the vacuum bubble would cause our false vacuum to break down and the true vacuum would take over. If that were to happen, it would drastically alter the way all the laws of the universe work, making the universe as we know it impossible and changing it into something else entirely that we would not be capable of existing in.
So, I guess it's less like clicking that tile in SimCity and leveling the surrounding tiles, and more like clicking that tile and all of a sudden the game turns into Civilization, but you still have all the same controls and property that you did in SimCity, making it impossible for you to play, let alone win.
Or maybe it's more like you level that tile and it reformats your hard drive, then installs a completely different OS.
Any of the resident physics experts, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
- Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
- Balance, in all things.
- There cannot be two skies.
What, you mean not everyone in the world knows what the Space Needle is? Well, doesn't matter anyway, who cares if Canadians don't understand it. It doesn't have to do with beer or hockey or moose, so how could they?
</kidding>
- Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
- Balance, in all things.
- There cannot be two skies.
The uncertainty principal simply dictates that the closer you observe something the more likely it will be that you effect the thing you are observing and alter the result of the test.