Philosophy 101 Unit 1

After 14 years of development, the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), which is a 100 meter deep, 17 mile particle accelerator track in Europe (estimated at $10 billion), is finally operational. The LHC will shoot two proton beams in opposite directions, increasing their speed with super-cooled (Helium) magnets stationed along the underground track, until they are a fraction away from the speed of light, and then force them to collide with each other, creating a force many times greater than the Fermilab’s Tevatron can produce. The collision is hoped to precede with what could be a simulation of the Big Bang, which would supply physicists with the information and clues they need for an extremely better understanding of the universe as we know it to be, inevitably leading to another scientific revolution, and by following history’s pattern, a philosophical one as well, or at the very least some sort of significant innovation. However, there is quite the opposition to this Big Bang reenactment; many people believe that the collision will form miniature black holes capable of swallowing the earth hole, but the possibility of these unstable, microscopic black holes maintaining an instantaneous materialization of more than a second is borderline impossible, according to several prominent physicists. However, this has not halted the critics’ suspicion of the plausible destruction of the earth, so they have taken the initiative upon themselves to bring this case to US federal court and the European Court of Human Rights, arguing the obviously fatalistic consequences to this experiment, also questioning whether this quest for a potential Pandora’s Box is worth the risk of billions of human lives. The advocates of the LHC rebut with evidence that cosmic rays in space are far more energetic than the collisions produced in the Large Hadron Collider, and do not produce the kinds of persistent black holes claimed by the critics. I digress; the benefits arising from this experiment would literally be astronomical. Look where the discoveries of particle physics have gotten us (satellite communications, handheld devices, etc.). Just imagine the innovations or possibly inventions that will manifest out of this high-powered proton collision. The discoveries might supply evidence or proof to age old questions (ones regarding ontology, creationism, evolution, etc.) This could change everything for the better… or for the worse all in the name of knowledge. Isn’t it strange how we… they are willing to risk everything (keeping in mind both sides to this debate are professional physicists well aware of the downfalls to this project) for the paramount breakthrough in science or maybe even perhaps fame, glory, a Nobel Prize?

However you favor the LHC, it’s inevitable. I believe they are scheduled to begin in about three weeks. We have absolutely no say-so for whether or not this is going to happen, so for once, I advise we remain optimistic, hopeful, and open-minded to the huge discoveries that are bound to emerge from the experiment; and hopefully, we don’t look at the possibilities from a narrow-minded, materialistic point of view. And I’ll end this with a quote from one of the physicists, Michio Kaku, working on the LHC.

“But let me let you in on a secret: We physicists are not driven to do this because of better color television,” Kaku added. “That’s a spin-off. We do this because we want to understand our role and our place in the universe.”