End of the Universe is “Very Unlikely”

A couple of dudes in Hawaii are worried that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator near Geneva is going to destroy the universe, which the scientists are pretty mostly sure that this is “very unlikely.” In true American spirit, they’re filing a lawsuit to stop the LHC from operating, contending that micro black holes could be formed at the collider that would eventually swallow the Earth. Fair enough.

Even better is how flippant and dismissive the scientists are when asked to comment on the possibility:

Lisa Randall, a Harvard physicist whose work helped fuel the speculation about black holes at the collider, pointed out in a paper last year that black holes would probably not be produced at the collider after all, although other effects of so-called quantum gravity might appear.

…

Dr. Arkani-Hamed said concerning worries about the death of the Earth or universe, “Neither has any merit.” He pointed out that because of the dice-throwing nature of quantum physics, there was some probability of almost anything happening. There is some minuscule probability, he said, “the Large Hadron Collider might make dragons that might eat us up.”

(emphasis mine)

Is “anything could happen” a reasonable defense to the possibility that this thing might cause the End of the World? In any case, I can’t think of a cooler way to go and there’s always the possibility that a Hulk-esque freak accident might occur, forming a superhero/villain - so this should be fun either way. (Photo from the NYTimes, via Rocketboom)

April 14, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized