Apocalypse by Particle Accelerator

Posted by jdrouin on Sat, 03/29/2008 - 14:24

This article on a lawsuit to stop a particle accelerator from destroying the earth or the universe might be of interest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/science/29collider.html

<snip>

Dr. Arkani-Hamed said concerning worries about the death of the Earth or universe, “Neither has any merit.” He pointed out that because of the dice-throwing nature of quantum physics, there was some probability of almost anything happening. There is some minuscule probability, he said, “the Large Hadron Collider might make dragons that might eat us up.”

</snip>

Thanks for bringing this to

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Jeff. Here's another quote from the article that gets at an issue associated with apocalyptic thought in its scientific guise:

"Doomsday fears have a long, if not distinguished, pedigree in the history of physics. At Los Alamos before the first nuclear bomb was tested, Emil Konopinski was given the job of calculating whether or not the explosion would set the atmosphere on fire."

This all or nothing apocalyptic approach sidesteps the necessary ethical considerations of human destruction against other targeted human beings, with a logic that runs like this: are we likely to destroy the whole world inadvertently? No, okay then, let's destroy our enemy.

Posted by lquinby on Sun, 03/30/2008 - 14:53