Out of Pod Experience

Original Article



“Scientists working at the world's biggest atom smasher near Geneva have announced they are confident that the new subatomic particle discovered last summer is a version of the long-sought Higgs boson. The particle bears key attributes of the so-called "God particle" that was theorized nearly a half-century ago as fundamental to the creation of the universe.”

Why are they doing this?

“The Higgs is part of many theoretical equations underpinning scientists' understanding of how the world came into being. If the particle didn't exist, then those theories would have needed to be fundamentally overhauled.”


This Picture

Is a snapshot of one out of 1 trillion (10^12) proton-proton collisions inside of a particle accelerator. Evidently you have to smash proton clouds together that many times in order to expect to see such a result. Those three little green lines... those are simple electron paths. Not some weird and new exotic particles... just simple run-of-the-mill, everyday electrons.


And yet, they are calling this picture of random subatomic decay of elementary particles... “god”. Or more specifically a god particle that they cannot see, detect or otherwise prove in anyway shape or form. $10 billion dollars, a 17-mile long particle accelerator and a staff of literally thousands of scientists now say that “they are now confident they have discovered a long-sought subatomic particle known as a Higgs boson”. based on results like this.


Um... seriously?


But then go on to say that “The atom-smashing experiments have now confirmed that this particle exists in a form that is similar to—but perhaps not exactly like—what was proposed”


In other words... whatever it is that they think that they have found (that they cannot actually see) is ultimately behaving differently then what they were originally looking for... and what was originally predicted to be there. Would you believe that they actually awarded the Nobel Prize for this half baked evidence and miscarriage of science?




Eternum's Note:

Particle physics deals with the very small and the very random. Three electrons decaying from a proton cloud is NOT in any way, shape or form (by any stretch of imagination or madness) “proof” or evidence of a god particle. Randomness is just randomness and if you run simulations 1 trillion (10^12) times, and do that over and over and over and over again, you will end up (through sheer randomness) generating any result that you like. Or... any result that you were looking for because you imagined that it should be there. It's like flipping coins and turning up heads 30 times and thinking it has some kind of meaning.

There is absolutely nothing here to even suggest “confidence” in the Higgs Boson's existence. And yet a team of thousands of scientists see fit to tell the world of their new found confidence and award the Nobel Prize.




Why Did They Do This?

Because they need to find one and soon. Or decades of atoms mashing would have resulted in no such god particle... no validation of their theory of everything... and ultimately this --->> “many theoretical equations underpinning scientists' understanding of how the world came into being relies on the God Particle. If the particle didn't exist, then those theories would have needed to be fundamentally overhauled.”

And no one likes rewriting text books...



Last But Not Least

And most importantly of all... these scientists seem to lack foresight enough to realize that even IF you discovered such a particle (and I mean for real not in imaginary land) you would still have to figure out what even tinier particle governs the interactions of a Higs Boson. And so on and so forth into tiny infinity.

Ummm... what?


An RP metaphor based on a holographic pea that you can cut in half and yet not eat or want to use as a decoration? I don't follow this one sorry.

How else is quantum entanglement explained? Smart particles? meh. They are interconnected because they have an external source. They are the same but different, yet still share the same source so that they can communicate as they do. They do that since they are divisions of the same result, not independent smart entities knowing all things within time and space.

Edit: still confused? Here, expand your horizons with a wikipedia article. A starting point at least.

btw, how do you know that under such circumstances you cannot touch that pea etc? Does not even light have gravity? Density? Certainly! So why cant a pea made of light and information not be touched or eaten, especially by something sharing the same origins?

I do not need to expand my horizons regarding this subject. String theory is opening up a whole new can of stupid. There is no theory more "Safe and unprovable" then string theory. It is one of the most ridiculous academically accepted theories every devised.



P.S. Since I think you are still role playing... as far as science fiction goes, I find the idea of eating holographic peas ridiculous from a sheer storyline perspective alone. Maybe in a CGI anime show, but not your run of the mill science fiction.

hah you sound like one of these scientists after their next approved grant, chasing the unattainable carrot and the money it produces from such grants. Like they did once, 'the world is flat, just saying'. So one vote for god particles, which somehow on their own know all things, if they can even be discovered... someday. But keep the money coming in the meantime hehe.



P.S./btw late edit: really I doubt you are familiar with the holographic universe theory from your responses, at all, even though published in widely circulated scientific magazines and presented in broadcast media such as on the Science channel. It came about through black hole physics/theory which is pretty much accepted mainstream now, or widely accepted. This is just applying what we already know into the larger picture. Black holes are quite odd though, but such observations (yes observations apply) even seeming so alien still is a part of our time-space fabric so not entirely foreign. Observation also presents clues, and clues refine theory, theory into discovery and discovery into application.

Unraveling such a mystery as this if it is so would result in technologies capable of instantaneous communication to any point in the universe, 100% unbreakable encryption, interstellar travel exceeding the speed of light, among other highly innovative technologies. So where you say such a thing is unprovable is entirely Bravo Sierra, only shows your lack knowledge in the subject. However, if proven wrong and there really in a god particle, beyond the shadow of a doubt, well pretty much they will then have the capability to refine bigger and better bombs. So going from a type 1 civilization to a type 4 or 5 practically overnight would be quite impossible, we'll all be quite dead.

So +1 vote here for the digital/holographic universe theory, for the betterment of humanity. But I agree with Einstein when he says "Raffiniert ist der Herrgott, aber boshaft ist er nicht!" and also with what is true is there for us to discover. Though that can take time as multibillion dollar research grants go up for grab to prove someones slanted truth and social or political interests/motivations. Sadly, much of science has seemingly plunged into the dark-ages, apart from striving to build bigger and better bombs.

Nassim Haramein, is that you?

A complete overhaul hmmm...? How much do you think that something like that costs? I can't even guess... and so soon after they pretended to find a god particle. Surely this is not coincidence!


Now imagine a world where the collider finds nothing but randomly dispersed paths of protons, electrons, neutrinos, occasional antimatter and a few abnormally large particles (an illusion of normal particles sticking together) . Do you think it would still get that kind of funding? Nope.

in the above avatar...higgs-bosoms particles.

* Eternum reads what silens vesica is saying, and agrees with him.
*But fails to see the point or relevance to this thread.

*Drinks a cup of tea and moves on...

Addressing a very minor point in the OP, and commentary on same. Really, it's mostly a drive-by.