Thread: The Large Hadron Collider

Originally Posted by Nickelking

Sorry for the previous post btw, got a bit heated by the argument that science in general isn't good. I was prepared for arguments against the LHC but not science in general.

That's OK, my clothes were a little singed but no flesh. I'm not trying to say that nothing good comes from basic science but that it's a question of proportion. For example, on the negative side nuclear physics gave us the atom bomb (Hiroshima and Nagasaki), the cold war, tens of thousands of nuclear war heads and depleted uranium. If it were possible to draft a balance sheet of benefit versus harm, I think we'd be surprised by how negative it is. Your grandfather and the archeological artificats on the plus side and the War in Iraq (weapons of mass destruction), 200 Israeli nukes and Iran enriching uranium on the other... See where I'm coming from? I'm not saying that we shouldn't do science because no one's going to stop it, anyway. I'm just saying that I used to feel that "progress" was a good thing and now I'm beginning to see the dark side.

I see your point, but really the cold war would have happened with or without those weapons. It was even fought on many levels other than weapons... space, olympics, etc.

This really is a whole other thread though. so I'm gonna back off.

Originally Posted by Nickelking

This really is a whole other thread though. so I'm gonna back off.

Sorry for hijacking your thread. Ciao!