Debate Do we really want to know?

Do we really want to know? With the collider looking for god particles who knows the answers might be terrifying to the human mind. We could be very small living on a larger object or maybe don't exist at all but on a computer program I think some things should be left a mystery. I do believe in space exploration and the tracking of asteroids but even if we can divert a asteroid we know we can't stop a comet. Some lack of understanding helps humans have some sense of security once you take that out you could cause a panic. It goes with the old saying "Be careful of what you wish for" IMO

L.D.Brousse said:

Do we really want to know? With the collider looking for god particles who knows the answers might be terrifying to the human mind. We could be very small living on a larger object or maybe don't exist at all but on a computer program I think some things should be left a mystery. I do believe in space exploration and the tracking of asteroids but even if we can divert a asteroid we know we can't stop a comet. Some lack of understanding helps humans have some sense of security once you take that out you could cause a panic. It goes with the old saying "Be careful of what you wish for" IMO

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L.D.Brousse, I think the term "god particle" is a total misnomer and it has been completely misused by the media. As far as I understand, the way physicists are currently understanding the universe (more or less) there are four fundamental fources: the strong nuclear force (which is responsible for the interaction inside the nuclei of atoms), the weak nuclear force (which is responsible for many processes that relate with radioactivity), electromagnetism (which is basically responsible for much of our every-day life, including chemistry and light) and gravity (which is responsible for the greater structures of the universe). Scientists have been hunting for decades for a single model to describe all four forces. It worked very well for the first three but also explaining gravity was a big problem. The Higgs particle was one possible solution for explaining gravity and if that model was right, this particle would be eventually found. Which it now, apparently at least, was.

It's a great find, and (hopefully) a great step for physics. But, calling it "god particle" is a gross exaggeration and plain wrong. It gives people the wrong idea, especially the whole "oh we should no look into that door" is entirely unwarranted. If we go by that train of thought, we shouldn't even have started looking into nuclear energy back in the 1930s.

Also, having found the Higgs particle will not mean that we're now going to understand everything. To think so would be incredibly arrogant, I believe.

If panic is going to happening now (for whatever reason, and even if it's only in certain circles), it's not the physicists who are to be blamed, but the media who got everything into the wrong neck... :innocent:

I did not mean finding god in a particle. I mean the quest for such things could lead to answers we don't want to hear. I know what the collider is doing they are even trying to make tiny black holes . With our voyager probe just on the verge of leaving our solar system I hope they are able to come up with new propulsion systems to get us places much quicker!!! I think about stuff like this all the time and the possibilities could drive you crazy. The sad part about finding such particles is the fact someone will try to make a weapon out of it

It is unlikely that science could ever figure out something that would existentially threaten us by the revelation. It could, however, produce an uncontrollable chain reaction that would end our civilization. See conjectures to a "strange matter apocalypse" for instance.

L.D.Brousse said:

I did not mean finding god in a particle. I mean the quest for such things could lead to answers we don't want to hear. I know what the collider is doing they are even trying to make tiny black holes . With our voyager probe just on the verge of leaving our solar system I hope they are able to come up with new propulsion systems to get us places much quicker!!! I think about stuff like this all the time and the possibilities could drive you crazy. The sad part about finding such particles is the fact someone will try to make a weapon out of it

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What strikes me reading these posts is the extremity of opinions on this topic. On one hand there are those, and you L.D.Brousse seem to be one, who sees the mess man has made here on earth and understandably have "concerns" on what he is now attempting beyond here and perhaps how he might put to use any new knowledge that these latest tests give. You would surely not be alone with these concerns.
On the other hand are those who see this as a wonderful new find and are excited to any new possibilities this could bring to the scientific field. There are many who feel this.
I can only congratulate those in both these camps for having definite opinions for I am one of those who, for now, sits on the fence, not a place to be if things need doing but this is where I am.
No matter what opinion you take on this we must remember , it is in mans nature to always push forward , push the boundaries. It is this same nature that pushed him on from the earliest migrations across this planet. I believe man capable of great things both good and evil, yet I have no problem in saying man is also an arrogant creature.

Knowledge is a wonderful gift, it's how we use them that counts in my opinion

I think we don't need really wanna know

Taranis said:

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If we go by that train of thought, we shouldn't even have started looking into nuclear energy back in the 1930s.

Also, having found the Higgs particle will not mean that we're now going to understand everything. To think so would be incredibly arrogant, I believe.

If panic is going to happening now (for whatever reason, and even if it's only in certain circles), it's not the physicists who are to be blamed, but the media who got everything into the wrong neck... :innocent:

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I think there's a lot to be said for the idea that we should never have started looking into nuclear energy. But it's way too late to close that door, and that would have been contrary to human nature anyway.

People amuse me when they worry about the idea that something like the search for the Higgs particle will end the world as we know it. The world as we know it is rapidly dying from habitat destruction caused by humans. Whatever species replaces us will probably think we were idiots.