It's. . . Science!

I've been catching up with my podcast listening lately. Today I was listening to an episode of Studio 360 from a couple of months ago where they were talking about the Large Hadron Collider over in Switzerland (which, a quick check of the news-sites reveal, is being switched on sometime tomorrow). As a science dilettante I find this interesting for the sense of perspective it give. Look at how far humanity has come in not only our knowledge and understanding, but also in our technical ability over the past 100 years. Of course, the other reason it's interesting is for the apocalyptic doomsayers claiming that it will bring about the end of the world. I mean, really, who doesn't like a good apocalypse?


Besides, doesn't it just look cool?

As an aside, Studio 360 included an interesting, speculative short story in their piece:



Am I worried? Of course not. While I personally don't have the knowledge or experience to evaluate the probability of some extinction event arising out of this machine, I'm reassured by the fact that those who do have that knowledge and experience have determined that the risk is infinitesimally small. It does raise and interesting question (at least in my mind), though. How large does a risk have to be before it becomes a concern? If you play it too safe, you'll never learn anything new, but if you're too daring the consequences could be quite far reaching. Where's the balance?

Personally, I don't know, but it is an interesting question to think about.