Humanity’s largest science project to date, the Large Hadron Collider, sent two particle beams around it’s 17 mile circuit today. One beam was shot clockwise and the other counter-clockwise, this was a crucial step to test the functioning of the machine.
The next step will be to collide the particles, after which the LHDs detector arrays will be calibrated. The machine will be shut down until the beginning of next year, at which point it will be ready for full scale collisions. That’s when you can start worrying about the end of the world.
Many predictions have been made as to what will occur when the real tests begin, my personal favorites include the creation of a blackhole and the discovery of time travel, surprisingly to a laymen such as I, time travel is more likely scenario. From my perspective both possibilities are horrifying.
A blackhole would be nasty for obvious reasons, but the time travel aspect is not quite so clear cut. According to theory, time travel to the past would only be possible back to the point where the first time machine is introduced. I don’t believe that the initial data retrieved from the LHC would allow the government to produce a machine capable of transferring large quantities of matter to and from the future, what would be more likely is the transfer o knowledge. Knowledge from the time machine would essentially allow scientists to procure technology produced decades if not centuries ahead in the future.
This is a disturbing idea but the current behavior of governments would suggest this is exactly how they would use it. Think of the strategic implications, it would allow the nation or in this case super state (see EU or NWO) to dominate all challengers in short order.
I don’t believe that’s the likely outcome however. What I’d really like to see is the discovery of the Higgs Bosen so we can finally get our anti gravity drives and you know what that means… FLYING CARS!!
No flying cars for the poor though, the funding of 6.7 billion Euros that was allocated to the LHC suggests that although humanity may be pushing forward technologically it certainly isn’t advancing socially.
