Why the fascination with the end of the world?

[The Old Man]

A news magazine article from the BBC:

[Walkabout]

maybe because it gives people who have nothing to talk about something to talk about

[The Old Man]

LOL! They had Radio 2 on in work today and the Hadron Collider and our imminent death tomorrow was mentioned every 5 minutes!

Looking at the Wikipedia entry for this though, the first attempt to circulate a beam through the entire LHC is scheduled for 10 September 2008, at 7:30 GMT and the first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled, on 21 October 2008. Therefore wouldn't the second date be the one to be concerned about it at all?

[hippyroo]

8 billion dollars for this big underground ring. Shame they don't have that kind of money to help lower energy bills. By the way, how much power will that thing drink each minute it's on? Oh, by the way they don't really know what they're playing with. They made up dark matter just because their formulas and theories don't work with the amount of observable matter, so they invented "dark matter" that MUST exist, right? They hope to learn about dark matter, and how stuff is created and oh yeah, the God particle. Hope my doubts are erased, and they actually learn something concrete for their oops our money.

[Guest Laurent.]

Believe me hippyroo, to say that "they don't know what they're playing with" is a bit unfair; nothing is simply "made up". Theoretical physicists all around the globe spent years developing particle theories, and the LHC is expansive but will bring some much needed help to the theorists independently on how the experiments turn out. So one way or another, this will advance human knowledge and comprehension of nature. Money should not be an issue.

People concerned about the costs of such experiments should be looking at expenses made for much more insignificant things.

Just my two cents.

About the LHC ushering the end of the world... I second Graham's "LOL". We're all afraid of what we don't understand, yet there's no need to force that fear unto others.

edit: About God's particle, I've found that interesting info:

Higgs is reported to have been displeased that the particle is nicknamed the "God particle", as Higgs is an atheist.This nickname for the Higgs boson is usually attributed to Leon Lederman, but it is actually the result of Lederman's publisher's censoring. Originally Lederman intended to call it "the goddamn particle", because of its elusiveness.

[The Old Man]

That's an interesting caveat Laran - thanks for that!

[Who Am I?]

Hey, I'm still waiting to figure out who the antichrist is... And no one better start screaming Obama, Hillary, etc.

*morphs into Peter Watts* For it says in the Book of Revelation: "I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast..."

*changes back* Well, yeah. Find me someone that should have died after being fatally wounded, and now has the world on a string... The accelerator is nothing compared to the power of the Force.