Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Try to be objective

The Large Hadron Collider has cost about £3.6billion.
What or any practical use has it produced thus for?

I'll I've heard is "excitement as it hinted at a new particle".

Has he World gone mad, or am I missing something?
£3,600,000,000 for a hint and the danger that someone does something
that would cause a massive explosion.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

uberteknik

Original post by NJA

Yes. You are missing something.

Blue sky science pushes the frontiers of human knowledge. The whole point is that we do not know what we will find but it does answer some fundamental questions about the way the universe works - and the way the human condition finds purpose in life. Both in themselves open up new avenues for exploration.

The LHC explores the nature of matter and the beginning of our inhabited universe. It may not yield immediate or practical results in the short or even medium term. But long term and the answers are likely to prove more valuable than we can imagine.

I doubt Newton realised the doors he would open with his Principiae Mathematica and neither did Galileo when he invented the telescope.
Boole could never have imagined the profound impact his binary algebra would have two centuries later with the development of the computer.
Rutherford could not know where probing the nucleus of the atom would lead. Einstein had no idea his work on the photoelectric effect and the subsequent postulation of the laser would lead to an explosion in information technology or that his simple equation E=mc² could have such profound implications for the modern world and its' history.
The list goes on and on.

Science is expensive, nature does not give up her secrets easily. Curiosity, exploration and discovery is a part of human nature as fundamental as reproduction.

Reply 2

TheArtofProtest

When they decommission it, we can use it as a skateboard park.

Reply 3

DanteTheDoorKnob

It's only 3.6 billion, the UK budget alone is about 200x larger.

Secondly, it's important for advancement of science and understanding of how things came to be as they are.

Thirdly, the implications are that future advances will save us money.

Fourth, if someone discovers some nasty weapon, which they usually do, i'd rather we have it first.

Reply 4

NJA

Original post by uberteknik

Yes. You are missing something.

Well, asked why they do drugs, religion, "you've been framed" antics by teenagers, ... many people will say things to the effect that it's blue sky stuff to explore what it is to be human ... differences are that they get a short-term benefit and then see which avenues don't work withing the short- to medium- term.

"long term and the answers are likely to prove more valuable than we can imagine."
Is that a scientifically verified statement, or a statement of faith by you?
Are we talking 55% or 95% liklihood?

Would you describe Newton, Galileo, Boole, Rutherford etc as blue sky scientists?

I remember reading a book on the history of science and most of the people who discovered natures secrets were self-funded (often because they disagreed withe the establishment).