Apocalypse Now, Again?
"He's my hero," I said once.
"He's your future," my wife replied.)
I wrote about the end of the world in this post last March, and then early this afternoon I came upon this article, Scientists: Nothing To Fear From Atom-Smasher.
"The most powerful atom-smasher ever built could make some bizarre discoveries, such as invisible matter or extra dimensions in space, after it is switched on in August.
But some critics fear the Large Hadron Collider could exceed physicists' wildest conjectures: Will it spawn a black hole that could swallow Earth? Or spit out particles that could turn the planet into a hot dead clump?
Ridiculous, say scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French initials CERN — some of whom have been working for a generation on the $5.8 billion collider, or LHC.
"Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on," said project leader Lyn Evans."
Doesn't that feel like a quote from a science-fiction book or movie about the end of the world? The scientists, or someone in authority, says, "Don't worry. Everything's under control. What could possibly go wrong? We've got the situation well in hand." And everyone else except the hero (and the readers, and all the moviegoers) know that, for sure, something will go wrong.
Naah. I'm sure that come August, everything will be fine...
posted by pgenrestories at 9:36 AM
3 Comments:
I'm sure the end will be more mundane than we expect. An major endasulfin spill from somewhere in the seas of the Visayas region of the Philippines, for example.
I actually followed this piece a few months back and it was interesting to hear the point of view from both sides.
Me, I'm just waiting for the machine to set off some metaphysical reaction and all the dead will walk the earth again. *brrr*
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