…and I feel fine.

September 9th, 2008 | by jg3 |

That’s great, it starts with an earthquake…

For those of you who are in the dark (that’s a pun), jeff has been keeping tabs on the black-hole machine known as the Large Haldron Collider being built out at CERN in Switzerland.  It goes live tomorrow for its first complete tests and you could, if you choose, be very excited or fearful of this idea.

Or you could shrug it off like a fatalist and say,  “whatever.”

A number of people have, with varying levels of seriousness and science, warned about the possibility that this thing could create a black hole that sucks us all in.  They’ve crowed about it to such an extent extent that CERN has felt compelled to publish published a LHC risk assessment (a fifteen-page .pdf, none of most of which goes well over my head) which states, in conclusion:

Having reviewed the theoretical and experimental developments since the previous safety report was published, we confirm its findings. There is no basis for any concerns about the consequences of new particles or forms of matter that could possibly be produced by the LHC.

Not concerned about the consequences of new particles or forms of matter?  So why did you just spend six billion dollars to build it in the first place?  Until proven otherwise, I’m firmly on the side of those cheering for this thing to wink out all existence in a subatomic instant.  poof.

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