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Higgs boson particle news

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Robdemanc
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14 Dec 2011, 2:51 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Robdemanc wrote:

What is the agenda?


Corroborating their theories. That is what scientists do. They make theories then the corroborate them.

Sometimes something of practical use comes out from that.

ruveyn


Yeah but when it does it is big, like electricity, perhaps we can create a constant supply of energy that is easy and cheap to maintain. The economy would do well in that situation.



iamnotaparakeet
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14 Dec 2011, 2:56 pm

Robdemanc wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
Robdemanc wrote:

What is the agenda?


Corroborating their theories. That is what scientists do. They make theories then the corroborate them.

Sometimes something of practical use comes out from that.

ruveyn


Yeah but when it does it is big, like electricity, perhaps we can create a constant supply of energy that is easy and cheap to maintain. The economy would do well in that situation.


Electricity was discovered in ancient Greece, but only made useful by people like Edison and Faraday over two thousand years later.



NineTailedFox
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14 Dec 2011, 3:12 pm

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No physicist ever seriously referred to the Higgs Boson as The God Particle. That sounds like something that originated in the press.


Actually it originates from a Nobel-prize winning physicist's book.



Fnord
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14 Dec 2011, 3:28 pm

NineTailedFox wrote:
Quote:
No physicist ever seriously referred to the Higgs Boson as The God Particle. That sounds like something that originated in the press.
Actually it originates from a Nobel-prize winning physicist's book.

"The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What is the Question?" is a 1993 popular science book by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon M. Lederman and science writer Dick Teresi.


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Apple_in_my_Eye
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14 Dec 2011, 4:52 pm

I saw an article yesterday (can't find the link, sorry) that claims that Lederman originally wanted to entitle his book, "The Goddamned Particle," since at the time it was proving difficult to find. The publisher didn't want that on the front of the book, so they proposed "The God Particle" back to him, and he went along with it (d'oh).

So, if that's true he's less responsible than it might seem for this "God particle" nonsense, although he did still screw up by thoughtlessly going along with the suggestion.



blunnet
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14 Dec 2011, 5:08 pm

Robdemanc wrote:
But if this discover allows us to come up with new technology or brings about a huge advance then perhaps it will stimulate growth. Just like the Graphine they discovered.

It might be, the laser was thought to have no purpose by few scientists at the time, eventually the thought was wrong, as its useful today, as well as particle physics, leading to the existence of our personal computers possible and so on.

So something of utility for future generations might be possible, as for economy, well, I would think of generating a new source of energy, I think this could be very possible in the future, not necessarily from higgs boson itself, but something out of using this technology and doing research with it.


This leads to the question, if the higgs boson is found, would it make possible for man to manipulate matter as he wishes? if so, then that could shape the economy, however the thought of this is science fiction, for the time being.



blunnet
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14 Dec 2011, 5:12 pm

ruveyn wrote:
No physicist ever seriously referred to the Higgs Boson as The God Particle. That sounds like something that originated in the press.

So Einstein actually never intended to read God's mind?



snapcap
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14 Dec 2011, 5:15 pm

blunnet wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
No physicist ever seriously referred to the Higgs Boson as The God Particle. That sounds like something that originated in the press.

So Einstein actually never intended to read God's mind?


He thought it sounded sexy, and people would remember him for saying that. Morgan Freeman agrees.



NineTailedFox
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14 Dec 2011, 5:23 pm

It should be called "Satan's boson" instead. :wink:



ruveyn
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14 Dec 2011, 6:01 pm

blunnet wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
No physicist ever seriously referred to the Higgs Boson as The God Particle. That sounds like something that originated in the press.

So Einstein actually never intended to read God's mind?


Einstein's "God" is the abstract ordering of the cosmos, not a hominid spook with a long white beard and a bad temper.

ruveyn