Title: The LHC
Post by: jcm on December 20, 2007, 08:42:38 PM
Post by: jcm on December 20, 2007, 08:42:38 PM
Have any of you heard about what is going on at CERN? Next year the LHC will conduct an experiment that may uncover answers to questions scientists have yet to answer. From what I have read, scientists are looking for several items like the Higgs boson (responsible for mass), extra dimensions and other things. I hope that this experiment will be successful in uncovering something new. Like most new discoveries, however, this will lead to even more unanswered questions. I wonder if we will ever be satisfied with what we know. Do you think there will ever be a point where we say “ok, now we know everything� Even if we don’t find anything, I am very excited to see the experiment happen. I really like that we humans will spend this much time, energy, and money on experiments for pure knowledge.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_fJ6PMfnz2E (http://youtube.com/watch?v=_fJ6PMfnz2E)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_fJ6PMfnz2E (http://youtube.com/watch?v=_fJ6PMfnz2E)
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Post by: SteveS on December 20, 2007, 10:14:46 PM
Post by: SteveS on December 20, 2007, 10:14:46 PM
Quote from: "jcm"I wonder if we will ever be satisfied with what we know. Do you think there will ever be a point where we say “ok, now we know everything�Seems hard to imagine. How would we ever know that we know everything? Or maybe I have this backwards - if you know everything, you would know that you know everything, right? :wink:
Quote from: "jcm"I really like that we humans will spend this much time, energy, and money on experiments for pure knowledge.I agree whole-heartedly. The pursuit of knowledge is one of the things that makes us valuable to me. I think it is one of our best qualities :wink:
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Post by: Steve Reason on December 21, 2007, 05:40:45 AM
Post by: Steve Reason on December 21, 2007, 05:40:45 AM
I believe that we're capable of knowing everything that's worth knowing; or maybe I should say we'll eventually be capable of knowing everything. Whether that will ever come to fruition or not is another question--for many reasons.
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Post by: ryanvc76 on December 21, 2007, 05:56:12 AM
Post by: ryanvc76 on December 21, 2007, 05:56:12 AM
Quote from: "SteveS"Seems hard to imagine. How would we ever know that we know everything?
God will tell you. :lol:
Afterall, the religious ones claim they know everything already! :roll:
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Post by: tacoma_kyle on December 21, 2007, 06:53:08 AM
Post by: tacoma_kyle on December 21, 2007, 06:53:08 AM
CERN?
I couldnt watch the link because I have lousy net here, but is that that multi-national 'sciene project' in Europe that is sue to be finished soon? Builkt over two nations? I forgot what the name was... But werent they speculating on the possibility of creating a black hole?
I couldnt watch the link because I have lousy net here, but is that that multi-national 'sciene project' in Europe that is sue to be finished soon? Builkt over two nations? I forgot what the name was... But werent they speculating on the possibility of creating a black hole?
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Post by: SteveS on December 21, 2007, 03:39:20 PM
Post by: SteveS on December 21, 2007, 03:39:20 PM
Quote from: "ryanvc76"Smart-arse! (hehe - I had your same thought when I was typing that....)Quote from: "SteveS"Seems hard to imagine. How would we ever know that we know everything?God will tell you. :lol:
So far, as near as I can tell, God ain't told me diddley-squat (to put it in proper English :wink: ). But maybe that's just because I'm not "accepting him in my heart"?
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Post by: jcm on December 22, 2007, 12:29:56 AM
Post by: jcm on December 22, 2007, 12:29:56 AM
Quote from: "tacoma_kyle"CERN?
I couldnt watch the link because I have lousy net here, but is that that multi-national 'sciene project' in Europe that is sue to be finished soon? Builkt over two nations? I forgot what the name was... But werent they speculating on the possibility of creating a black hole?
yeah they said black holes might be created, but they would disappear in a fraction of a second after they were made.
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Post by: tacoma_kyle on December 22, 2007, 01:09:07 AM
Post by: tacoma_kyle on December 22, 2007, 01:09:07 AM
Damn I was hoping it would suck up part of Europia 
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Post by: Girl Dancing In Orbit on December 28, 2007, 11:17:42 PM
Post by: Girl Dancing In Orbit on December 28, 2007, 11:17:42 PM
QuoteI wonder if we will ever be satisfied with what we know. Do you think there will ever be a point where we say “ok, now we know everything�
:lol: That's missing the point. As long as there will be unanswered questions why not try to answer them.
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Post by: jcm on December 29, 2007, 02:30:40 PM
Post by: jcm on December 29, 2007, 02:30:40 PM
All for that, but I wonder how many questions we still should ask about how the universe works. I wonder how far along we are in understanding the universe. Do we have a long way to go or are we close to understanding everything?
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Post by: SteveS on December 30, 2007, 05:40:00 PM
Post by: SteveS on December 30, 2007, 05:40:00 PM
I think we've still got some serious ground to cover. What is dark matter, dark energy? Is the universe cyclical? Did it have a beginning, even if its cyclical? If not, what happened at and before the big bang? Was there even a "before the big bang", or does that not even make sense? Are there really parallel universes? How can we tell? Are quantum events truly random, or can they be precisely predicted?
I think all these question about the universe are currently unanswered, and I think they are tremendously interesting. If the past is any guide, answering these questions will raise even more questions, so yeah, I think we're going to be working on this for a good long time :wink:
I think all these question about the universe are currently unanswered, and I think they are tremendously interesting. If the past is any guide, answering these questions will raise even more questions, so yeah, I think we're going to be working on this for a good long time :wink: