Black Hole set to destroy Earth 05/08

In case you weren't aware, this May scientists are slated to conduct an experiment which could potentially destroy planet Earth (or even the entire universe). If someone told me that, I would naturally be skeptical, which I don't doubt many people reading this will be. But before you come to any conclusions or blow off the possibility entirely, I think it's worth taking a few minutes to clear your mind of any preconceptions and look at the facts from both sides of the argument.

I suggest you read the entire website http://www.lhcdefense.org/ - started by nuclear physicist Walter L. Wagner advocating legal intervention to prevent the experiment from being conducted, at least until the possibility of Earth being destroyed can be completely ruled out.

The experiment itself consists of the collision of subatomic particles at close to the speed of light. I'm sure many of you have heard about this type of experiment using particle accelerators. The particle accelerator being used in this instance is called the Large Hadron Collider, located on the France/Switzerland border. It is the largest ever built, with a circumference of 16 miles. The reason for the danger is that this particle accelerator is so powerful it could potentially create miniature black holes (ever see the movie Event Horizon?).

The organization running the LHC, CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), acknowledges this possibility on their own website:

http://www.cern.ch/
http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/en/LHC/Safety-en.html

"Microscopic black holes will not eat you..."

However, assertions of complete safety have been called into question by credible members of the scientific community. Specifically, CERN's reasoning that cosmic rays bombard Earth with higher energy collisions without consequence does not take into account the fact that their momentum carries them out of Earth's gravity, as opposed to theoretical mini black holes produced at the LHC which would immediately fall to the center of the planet. Additionally, CERN states that in the event mini black holes are created, they will "evaporate" almost instantly via a principle known as Hawking radiation (as you probably know / guessed was postulated by renowned physicist Stephen Hawking in the 1970's). However, Hawking radiation is 100% theoretical, and has never been observed. Stephen Hawking himself has changed his views regarding black holes throughout his career.

That basically sums up the dangers acknowledged by mainstream science, but there are other possibilities which have been completely disregarded as quack (even though Hawking radiation itself is merely theoretical), such as strangelet matter, vacuum phase inversion, Einstein/De Sitter space transitions...

All in all, it could be worse I guess. Instead of getting capped or contracting AIDS, I might actually get the chance to die in a hella awesome way! By getting sucked into a black hole or having my body phased out of existence!

i wouldn't want a large hardon collider anywhere near my black hole!

heyo!

How is this bad news? I don't mind death at all.

I had my body phased out of existence once. Totally overrated.

Sounds like, but is not. I hope everyone researches the facts before drawing a conclusion.

"Quantum calculations presented in the CERN report predict that:

* Any black holes created by the LHC are not expected to be stable and will not accrete matter.
* Any monopoles that could catalyse the decay of matter will quickly exit the Earth." - http://www.answers.com/topic/large-hadron-collider

Excerpts from a report conducted by CERN.

"Strangelets are hypothetical small pieces of matter whose existence has never been proven." - http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/en/LHC/Safety-en.html

Yet the basis for the safety of the LHC is Hawking radiation, which is itself theoretical and has never been proven.

additional info:
http://www.misunderstooduniverse.com/France_Builds_Doomsday_Machine.htm

oh, you laugh now, but when the experiment goes awry and opens a portal to Yuggoth, thus starting an invasion which was only being contemplated by the Mi-Go.

EDIT: there was a lonely g.

thank god. at least i will stop hearing about Ron Paul if this does really happen.

Well, there's no real downside.

Here's a tip: try not to reference crappy sci-fi movies in a bid to scare into reading your long-ass post.

Although how hilariously appropriate if the world is ended by the French.

" Who's a cheese-eating surrender monkey NOW, bitch?!?!"

I suggest you lay off smoking pot and reading that CommunistCanuck guy's website.

You jerk. If I hadn't read this, I would have been in the reality where this doesn't exist and that would have been great. Instead you had to make it all messy with this.
Luckily S5 posted that it sounds like a load of bollocks and I'm going to agree with him and hope that it leads to the reality where the particle accelerator does nothing useful at all.
I'm also going to get drunk, so I can erase the memory of this completely.
The cat lives and so do I!

fixed.

I read (still looking for the article) that most of the doomsday theories regarding the Collider are in the realm of one in several trillian odds. I'm not terribly worried. And if I am, I will never know it - I figure if the Universe collapses, I probably won't realize it. Cause...I'll be all collapsed and shit.

I HAVE CUBIC WISDOM THAT TRANSCENDS AND CONTRADICTS ONE DAY GODS - FOR I HAVE CREATED 4 SIMULTANEOUS CORNER 1st DAYS IN 1 EARTH ROTATION, AND THE TRUTH OF 4 CORNER 1st DAYS WILL DESTROY ALL RELIGIONS AND FALSE GODS WE WORSHIP TODAY. IF YOU CAN'T TEAR AND BURN THE EVIL BIBLE, THEN YOUR MIND IS BIAS, PREJUDICED AND UNFIT TO VOICE YOUR OPINION ON A SINGLE CONTROVERSY.

You win.

I have a flag too.

That's a big Twinkie.

well, there goes the Brittish Maneuver option.

What I don't understand is why anyone, especially the media, blindly believes probabilities based on purely theoretical frameworks put forth by the scientists who surely have no vested interests in the success of the project. I severely doubt the media has covered the viewpoint of scientists who believe there is a distinct (albeit still unlikely) chance a black hole could destroy Earth. I think the highest credible probability figure I've seen is 1 in 50 million (source:BBC Horizons), with some scientists posing even "better" odds. People win the lottery against odds like that all the time, so what gives anyone the right to place the Earth on the line with those odds?

And I'm pretty confident the people involved have. Any scientific experiment has an element of risk involved; without taking it, you wouldn't be using that computer you've typed this on.

I just hope im not sat on the toilet when the world dissapears into the black hole , rubbish way to go

Keep in mind these are the same scientists funded by the same governments that brought you nuclear weapons and biological warfare. Although the byproduct of some malevolent scientific endeavors has been beneficial as you alluded, don't forget Einstein himself wished nuclear weapons un-invented. Although this isn't a top secret government weapons program, it is funded by governments and corporations. If history is any indicator of the motivation behind most governments and corporations, I would like to see the LHC postponed strictly on those grounds. Even if this project is completely benevolent, the possibility for unseen consequences is disturbing. I would like to understand the basic structure of the universe as well as any scientist, and I think the LHC is a wonder of modern technology, but I think scientists are being far too cavalier in regards to exactly what they are meddling with. I don't think the LHC should be activated until more studies are conducted by unbiased third parties.

I am worried about this gizmohicky, unless it create dinosaurs. Then we'd really be in trouble.