[Kosh]

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/03/27/2033218.shtml

In what can only be considered a bizarre court case, a former nuclear safety officer and others are suing the U.S. Department of Energy, Fermilab, the National Science Foundation and CERN to stop the use of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) until its safety is reassessed. The plaintiffs cite three possible 'doomsday' scenarios which might occur if the LHC becomes operational: the creation of microscopic black holes which would grow and swallow matter, the creation of strangelets which, if they touch other matter, would convert that matter into strangelets or the creation of magnetic monopoles which could start a chain reaction and convert atoms to other forms of matter. CERN will hold a public open house meeting on April 6 with word having been spread to some researchers to be prepared to answer questions on microscopic black holes and strangelets if asked."

Man, the hysteria over this device in just amazing....... 


Edit: edited for clarity.

[redsniper]

... and here I was expecting a picture of an actual suit.

[Flipside]

A Doomsday Suit would be cool

Well, I suppose it's not surprising people are a little nervous about the thing, it'd be bad enough to have aliens arrive in 500 years to find we'd destroyed ourselves through Warfare and Famine, then they'd just be sad and a little bit cynical, if they found out we'd destroyed the planet by the Quantum equivalent of 'What happens if I press this?' I think they'd probably give us the Interstallar equivalent of a Darwin award.....

[Kosh]

It turns out that the guy who filed this suit (Wagner) also filed a suit against the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider several years ago because he thought it would create a blackhole that would swallow the earth. His suit was dismissed, the RHIC opened and began operations in 2006, and we're all still alive today.

[Mefustae]

the RHIC opened and began operations in 2006, and we're all still alive today.

...Or are we? Quantum mechanics is a strange thing.

[Flipside]

Heh, I'm not really all that bothered by the thing in all seriousness

I tend to look at it that it either works or we run out of cake very quickly

[Woolie Wool]

If I recall, spaghettification is less extreme the larger a black hole is, so a mini black hole from the LHC swallowing you up must be pretty much the most instantaneous and painless death you could get from a black hole, because you'd be torn atom from atom instantly.

[BloodEagle]

Well, I suppose it's not surprising people are a little nervous about the thing, it'd be bad enough to have aliens arrive in 500 years to find we'd destroyed ourselves through Warfare and Famine, then they'd just be sad and a little bit cynical, if they found out we'd destroyed the planet by the Quantum equivalent of 'What happens if I press this?' I think they'd probably give us the Interstallar equivalent of a Darwin award.....

 

That's going in my list of quotes.

-------------------------

By the way:

http://xkcd.com/401/

[phreak]

damn you, was just gonna post the xkcd.

I'll just make a resonance cascade reference and call it a day.

[Hellstryker]

And what exactly is the REASON for doing this anyway >_< i'm too young to be torn apart at the molecular level by tiny blackholes

[Kosh]

And what exactly is the REASON for doing this anyway >_< i'm too young to be torn apart at the molecular level by tiny blackholes

Can you think of a cooler way to go?

[Scuddie]

Smooh-Smooh, perhaps?

[BloodEagle]

Smooh-Smooh, perhaps?

I thought it was called "Schnoo-schnoo." 

[Nuke]

i dont care if something goes horribly wrng with the thing, i think it would be sorta cool to watch the earth implode on itself.

[perihelion]

This is beyond idiotic.  Even if by some incredible fluke the damn thing does manage to create a micro black hole, the thing will have virtually no mass to speak of and it will evaporate via the Hawking mechanism probably so fast no one would even have time to observe it was there in the first place.

[TrashMan]

Can you think of a cooler way to go?

Yeah, I can.

[Hellstryker]

Can you think of a cooler way to go?

Yeah, I can.

Mmmhmm, heart attack during sex with leyla milani O_o

[TrashMan]

Can you think of a cooler way to go?

Yeah, I can.

Mmmhmm, heart attack during sex with leyla milani O_o

Precisely.

Or Death in an orgy

Or dying a heroic death while fighting for freedom, justice, good and stuff like that.