Got any particles of God you’re not using?
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Now here’s a headline you don’t see often: Race for God particle heats up.
Scientists in Switzerland and the U.S. are in a mad rush to see which will be first to discover a Higgs boson, or “God particle.” If I recall what I learned in “The Elegant Universe ** ” correctly (and I probably don’t), the reason you want to observe a Higgs boson is that it’ll sort of prove that string theory is true. And you want string theory to be true because it ties up loose ends (ha ha) between Newtonian and Einteinian physics. Besides … it’s neat. It posits a world with 11 dimensions and parallel universes.
Isn’t that worth several billion dollars? Let’s hope so, because that’s how much the Swiss lab, CERN, cost to build and maintain. The American version, Fermilab, has been around since the ’80s, so we can all be proud of the fact that its main particle accelerator only cost a measly $290 million.
So just to be clear, these are the guys who tell us that we’re nuts to believe in Noah’s Ark. Now they’ve got particle accelerators 17 miles in diameter *** looking for evidence of a “God particle,” and the media is standing by with the six-inch headlines in case they do.I’m not saying that’s good or bad or right or wrong. It just strikes me as … funny. I feel like wandering up to the front desk of one of these places and saying, “Are you the guys looking for a Higgs boson? I’ve got three of them. My mom gave me one. And I found one here in my purse — no, sorry that’s part of a Necco. And I did have another one, but I accidentally ran over it with the vacuum cleaner. So you want ‘em or what?”
Now, that would make for some good headlines.
Related posts:
- On Questioning God
- For the love of God
- God as silversmith
- Praying to God to make you a good activist
- The Wrath of God in a light green suit
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6 Responses and Counting...
hmmmm… I need new glasses… I thought you said Higgs BOSOM. Now THAT would be an interesting metaphysical twist on what holds the world together.
11 dimensions? When I am measuring for drapes or paint or slipcovers, 3 is all I can handle!
s-p:
Well, maybe that’s what they meant to say. If you look at the particle accelerator HERE, it sort of does resemble the naughty drawings schoolboys used to make. But if that’s what these guys are after, I think they’re already way behind the scientists who built the famously buxom San Onofre Nuclear Power Station — HERE.
Anyone —
By the way, I see when I go off to the Nova link to “The Elegant Universe” — HERE AGAIN - that you can watch all three hours of the series online. I know that sounds like a big investment of time and bandwidth, but I’d really encourage any burgeoning scholars out there who haven’t seen it to give it a try.
String theory represents one of those nexus points of science and faith that was the main point of Carl Sagan’s novel “Contact.” (Might have missed it if you saw the movie.
Anam Cara:
Well, exactly. What are we supposed to do with all these extra dimensions? Do they require additional closet space? As I said, I’ve forgotten a lot of what that Nova series ( HERE ) taught about string theory. I can’t remember what the 11 dimensions are, assuming I could even follow that part in the first place.
I really don’t have a very good head for science. I love finding out what they’re up to, but I rarely remember how they got there.
Eleven dimensions? It sounds like the line from “Spinal Tap”…
“These go to eleven!”. I guess my question is similar to yours…what good are the other eight to us except to get government grants. OH…I think I just answered the question, the other eight dimensions are where all the money goes because it just seems to disappear from the earth.