tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post1758645952385870938..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: Poverty and the LHCBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-21026949615645334632008-09-14T05:00:00.000+00:002008-09-14T05:00:00.000+00:00they don't give a ht aout uthey don'tcae aout peop...they don't give a ht aout uthey don'tcae aout peoplearoundtheworld the only think about how to get a prize and put there nams on things hees what hs happened they've lost power to a cooing systemand they still keep it running heres the data.<BR/><BR/>September 13<BR/> <BR/><BR/>Overnight Friday/Saturday<BR/><BR/>Serious electrical problem in point 8. Transformer out. No repair.<BR/><BR/>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-21382850037677192702008-09-13T22:57:00.000+00:002008-09-13T22:57:00.000+00:00I'm limited to 450 characters (posting from phone)...I'm limited to 450 characters (posting from phone) so will be brief: if the money weren't spent on the LHC, would it be spent on ending world poverty, saving the environment etc.? No - it would be spent on whatever was most politically convenient. Military research, maybe. Or the latest lunatic government scheme for Being Seen To Do Something about The Thing That's Been In The News A Lot.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-39132733577297537332008-09-11T17:35:00.000+00:002008-09-11T17:35:00.000+00:00King's case is particularly relevant to mathematic...King's case is particularly relevant to mathematics which is perhaps the bluest of blue sky research. It seems to me that without calculus and the hundred or so years of mathematics that followed, we'd have no industrial revolution; without group theory and modern algebra, we'd have no modern quantum mechanics and therefore no modern devices. <BR/><BR/>It's particularly irksome and frankly Philonoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05724316058973674769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-58057856744956618202008-09-08T16:24:00.000+00:002008-09-08T16:24:00.000+00:00It has just occurred to me that, if the LHC create...It has just occurred to me that, if the LHC creates a black hole, maybe we could keep it happy by feeding it on carbon dioxide: thereby conjoining two myths from one king, and saving (under his policy at least) more than enough money to sort out Africa too.<BR/><BR/>Best regardsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-27541605831225829422008-09-08T15:54:00.000+00:002008-09-08T15:54:00.000+00:00A good man, or a naive man, prone to dribbling? I ...A good man, or a naive man, prone to dribbling? I doubt very much that Africa's problems are a result of not enough science. And as for global warming... well, let's not go there. Why don't we also divert all research into scientific solutions to war, broken hearts, ennui, nothing good to watch on TV etc?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-53385937727440006212008-09-08T15:52:00.000+00:002008-09-08T15:52:00.000+00:00Isn't there a risk that if you start getting a lit...Isn't there a risk that if you start getting a little too utilitarian about research and its goals, you then ensure that nothing of much real worth will be found because you have filtered out the unexpected?<BR/><BR/>FWIW, the LHC costs chump change compared to the many other things we spend our money on. It's a tiny fraction of the EU's annual expenditure. Even the UK will end up spending about Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06074816573442173758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-16207883827762421522008-09-08T14:07:00.000+00:002008-09-08T14:07:00.000+00:00Yes anon, you missed the humour, as it whizzed ove...Yes anon, you missed the humour, as it whizzed over your head at 30,000 feet.maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-66652884142352324372008-09-08T13:53:00.000+00:002008-09-08T13:53:00.000+00:00"If science is as clever as it is reported to be, ..."If science is as clever as it is reported to be, then why do we personally have to fill the dishwasher."<BR/><BR/>Perhaps I missed a subtle humour in your post but you bemoan the 'perpetual motion' of science only to ask why nobody has made progress in making your life easier. <BR/><BR/>This is the curious dilemma of the scientific sceptic. They want the quality of life that science delivers butAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-85596924454165657772008-09-08T13:36:00.000+00:002008-09-08T13:36:00.000+00:00The sole purpose of the scientific community is to...The sole purpose of the scientific community is to produce theories / devices that then raise questions requiring bigger theories / devices, this I believe is their greatest discovery, perpetual motion. A group of science bods think that they can nip down a potash mine in Durham and return to the surface with a plastic bucket full of pre processed hadrons, the mine must be part of Marks and maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-37594293414652491602008-09-08T11:57:00.000+00:002008-09-08T11:57:00.000+00:00That way lies madness. I suppose we should cut all...That way lies madness. I suppose we should cut all funding to anything other than medicine and agricultural studies. You need one hell of a high horse to dictate how human endeavours should be directed on this scale. <BR/><BR/>Mr King's time might be better spent lobbying for the billions of dollars spent in Iraq to be redirected to Africa; but of course he wouldn't be getting his name in the Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-10234217767631906712008-09-08T11:26:00.000+00:002008-09-08T11:26:00.000+00:00The most brilliant minds should be directed to sol...<B><I>The most brilliant minds should be directed to solving Earth's greatest challenges, such as climate change, says Sir David King. </I></B><BR/><BR/><BR/><B>How did H. G. Wells put it? <I>Don’t inflict visions upon us, spare our little ways of life from the fearful shaft of understanding. Give us cheap lighting, and cure us of certain disagreeable things, cure us of cancer, cure us of Selena Dreamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11629908887644614404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-66121031005960998162008-09-08T08:54:00.000+00:002008-09-08T08:54:00.000+00:00As long as Mr King has come off his high horse and...As long as Mr King has come off his high horse and now accepts that science is an on going dialectic, and issues and subjects are never deemed closed or over I can go along with that BUT its wise to understand that even abstract idealist science has many many spin offs, and understanding energy is one of them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com