The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was fired up last Friday. It is the largest international physics project in the world. It was used to collide protons together this week for the first time (see Europe’s Large Hadron Collider Successfully Collided Protons). More significant tests for the LHC are planned for January and February of 2010.
The project is claimed to be safe by most.
But will the Large Hadron Collider be used to develop military technology?
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) says no even though one with ties to Al Qaeda was arrested for being involved with it last month (Linkins, Jason. Hadron Collider Scientists Arrested , Suspected of links to Al Qaeda. Huffington Post. October 9, 2009. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/hadron-collider-scientist_n_315570.html)
If there are no possible military applications, one must wonder why an Al Qaeda scientist was apparently intentionally involved in the project.
There seem to be two extreme positions on this project.
The first is that it is good for science, it cannot be used for military applications, but that it will develop:
new technologies, such as superconductivity links for power grids, advanced forms of computer software and, as-yet-”unimagined benefits for society.” (Samarrai F. Large Hadron Collider Bangs Beams; Scientists Pleased. University of Virginia Today, November 24, 2009. http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=10434)
And there is little doubt that some useful technologies will be developed from the Large Hadron Collider project.
The second is that it will develop technologies that will unintentionally and completely destroy the world--which, in this examiner's opinion, it cannot (see September 10th is Not the End of the World).
Will the LHC Destroy the World?
The LHC will allow scientists to observe particle collisions at an energy level far higher than any previous experiment. Some people worry that such powerful reactions could cause serious trouble for the Earth...
One fear is that the LHC could produce black holes...CERN scientists admit that the LHC could produce black holes, but they also say those black holes would be on a subatomic scale and would collapse almost instantly. (Strictland, Jonathan. How the Large Hadron Collider Works. Discovery Communications http://science.howstuffworks.com/large-hadron-collider7.htm)
CERN (and other) scientists generally do NOT claim that the particles that do (or may) exist cannot cause any destruction, only that they are not likely to be able to completely destroy the entire planet. But just because something cannot be expected to annihilate the earth during an experiment does not mean that such forces cannot cause military destruction.
This was also somewhat the case with nuclear power. Even though some scientists believed that splitting of the atom in the 1940s could theoretically destroy the entire planet, more scientists involved with such research dismissed that idea as too far-fetched. And while splitting of the atom did not annihilate the planet, and even has peaceful applications (such as nuclear power), the reality is that atomic and hydrogen bombs resulted from this technology. And actually, that is what spurred that research initially.
People need to realize that major physics projects, like the space programs, have historically developed technologies that have military applications.
Military technologies that develop as the result of the LHC project are likely to play a role in end time prophecy.
Notice what the book 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect states:
…the Large Hadron Collider…is apt to provide the Europeans with unique military capabilities in several years…The Bible is clear that the final “Beast power” (which will be primarily European) will have such unique military capabilities that the entire world will marvel (Revelation 13:3-4). (Thiel Bob. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect. Nazarene Books, 2009, p. 85).
The LHC was not functional when the above was written. But it is now starting to be. It is likely to produce unique military technologies that the Europeans will be able to use.
So while this examiner does not believe that it is not possible that experiments with the Large Hadron Collider will actually destroy the entire planet, it seems unrealistic to believe that since the technologies that the project is investigating do have destructive potential for any to conclude that there CANNOT be any possible military applications.
Comments
The ‘Quark Cannon’ IS a military device. CERN misinforms mankind. The Large Hadron Collider is a quark factory/cannon that will deconfine millions of quarks, the strongest, most attractive particles of the Universe. They carry the Atom’s mass, caged inside their nuclei. 99% of LHC’s production will consist on superfluid Quark condensates, a new state of matter, defined by Einstein, in which Quarks fusion together, creating hyper-dense, attractive tornado-like vortices with properties similar to black holes. Astro-physicists fear that if enough quarks are pegged together in one of those condensates, they can trigger a mass-reaction that would attract all the other quarks of the Earth, transforming our planet into a dense pulsar or black hole. Because in Nature all what is possible happens (a law called Totalitarian principle), Quark stars should happen at LHC, making prohibitive for Public Policy the risks for Earth of a quark cannon better shown in film at www.lhcdefence.org
You can watch the LHC run LIVE and post on a forum made for the project on a website called LHCPortal . com
Even if the LHC experiment is safe, yes, you could theoretically collect anti-protons and positrons in magnetic traps built at the collision sites. In Ron Howard's "Angels and Demons," when the anti-matter bomb went off, why didn't their hair fall out? On the Head of a Pin: vids.myspace.com/hedges333
Holy Cow! That last comment takes the cake in terms of utter crackpottery!
Coming back to the article, I often wish that someone who actually UNDERSTANDS the actual physics beyond just reading some pop-science articles would write article like this. I guess that is just way too much to ask. If we go by what was written, I could argue that the research in semiconductor physics, or even simple quantum magnetism, would have military aspects too. In fact, I can pin-point several that already have. The LHC and it's technology can certainly have lots of application beyond just high energy physics. But that's saying nothing. If you think you can make a STRONG care for it, please do so explicitly, because the high energy physics community would LOVE to show that what they do has direct application to justify spending all that money!
Zz.
I once visited a steel factory and thought it was great until I realized that steel is used for military applications. Then on the drive home I realized that motorvehicles are also used for military purposes. I abandoned the car on the side of the road only to realize that the boots I was going to use for walking home are also routinely used by he military (And Al Qaeda!). Now I don't know what to do. If you see me by the side of the road could you maybe drop off some food?
Curiouser and curiouser.
I am watching to see the Higgs Boson (very cool.)
SciFi is cool, but don't forget the 'Fi' part, ..it's not really to be taken as total truth in everything. Just fun, and often silly if you see through the illusions.
Don't worry folks. Support science. It is bred from natural philosophy (belief that God's creation/will, the universe etc. can be understood by observation and reason. We call it science now.)
Same quest.
We desire understanding.
Much hinges upon this science, not directly for you or I perhaps but for the scientists we have who are sort of responsible for dotting the I's and crossing the T's of our overall understanding.
String theories, ...or whatever other current theories of these folks are being tested.
Later, engineers and inventors may rely upon inferences drawn upon these theories. Hey sometimes science fiction leads the way because dreaming is easier than building.
This machine is about understanding. You too can
The higgs is a hoax that everybody relativiist knows. Mass was defined by the Principle of equivalence of Einstein between accceleration and mass. Quantum physicists who make A-Bombs denied Einstein. And came with that ridiculous particle. Nobel Prize Wilczek explaiend how mass can be calculated by measuring the frequencies of each particle. The faster they turn the more they attract as a huricane. Higgs 'mechanism' is ridiculous: particles are supposed to see higgs and come to him. But it was needed to get 13 bllion $ of funding for this machines. The biggest swindle in the history of science and a dangerous one. Now cern denies einstein and prevetns the advance of science. The LHC is just a quark cannon and bombing the Earth with quarks wont resolve anything. It is amazing how a corrupted obsolete military machine has 'reconverted' with a shrewd marketing campaing, halt the advance of the true model of Mass of Mr. Einstein, widened by Wilczek, just because politicians know 0 physics
@mike: Food is used by the military, too.
There are a lot of people who quote a lot of terms and technology but only describe the military downfall from the LHC.
I too have followed the progress and have been wondering about what the later experiments will bring.
Even when the report of the potential Black Holes came to light i wondered what would this would mean to us all.
But when we look back at what the pioneers did and the experiments they were doing, what were the people of their day thinking, nothing different from what is being bebated now.
Lets see what the greatest minds in the world come up with, then the rest of us can moan and debate what is right and then come up with our own better solution.
Again the greatest minds in the world are working on the LHC, if they were intent in harming mankind then they would with all of there knowledge have been able to before now.
We can only watch in wonder as the fantacy unfolds.
• luis sancho comments are beyond sci-fi and very entertaining
• Yes, any research, including food research has military potential. If the Higgs Boson is found it will influence greatly the understanding of the Universe. If it is not found then this is also very good to understand the nature of the Universe because it will remove incorrect ideas about its nature.
• Yes, there is a possibility that a civilization could self-annihilate while pursuing research in physics. That could explain the lack of any provable extraterrestrial visitors in the last 400 million years.
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