Submitted by webmaster on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 14:58.
Colliding Particles Can Make Black Holes
By Adrian Cho
ScienceNOW Daily News
22 January 2010
You've heard the controversy. Particle physicists predict the world's new highest-energy atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland, might create tiny black holes, which they say would be a fantastic discovery. Some doomsayers fear those black holes might gobble up Earth--physicist say that's impossible--and have petitioned the United Nations to stop the $5.5 billion LHC. Curiously, though, nobody had ever shown that the prevailing theory of gravity, Einstein's theory of general relativity, actually predicts that a black hole can be made this way. Now a computer model shows conclusively for the first time that a particle collision really can make a black hole.
[...]
Does that mean the LHC will make black holes? Not necessarily, Choptuik says. The Planck energy is a quintillion times higher than the LHC's maximum. So the only way the LHC might make black holes is if, instead of being three dimensional, space actually has more dimensions that are curled into little loops too small to be detected except in a high-energy particle collision. Predicted by certain theories, those extra dimensions might effectively lower the Planck energy by a huge factor.
[...]
Submitted by webmaster on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 14:43.
New study: CERN / LHC / Big Bang Machine / Dangers / Black Hole Case / Human Rights / Lawsuits / Prof. Eric Johnson
Legal expert Prof. Eric E. Johnson (University of North Dakota) profoundly analyses the discourse on dangers and risks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operated by the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland in a new independent and critical study.
His multi-disciplinary perspective covers legal and socio-psychological aspects (“groupthink”) and also reflects the physical discussion in many details:
“THE BLACK HOLE CASE: THE INJUNCTION AGAINST THE END OF THE WORLD”
The renowned “Technology Review” (MIT) has just published a very interesting article about Prof. Johnson’s study:
“The Case of the Collider and the Great Black Hole
The physicists have had their say. Now a legal study asks how a court might handle a request to halt a multibillion-dollar particle-physics experiment. The analysis makes for startling reading.
[…]
Today, we get a fascinating new perspective on the issue from Eric Johnson […]”
Quotes from the critical conclusion of Prof. Johnson:
“Even a tiny chance of a black-hole catastrophe could be very significant as matter of equity before a court. The alleged downside, after all, is the disappearance of our planet down a cosmic drain. From my perspective as a lawyer, sizing up the merits of the case, I find the assurances provided by the particle-physics community to be quite lacking. In particular, I am struck by the fact that the safety assurances are based on scientific work that brazenly lacks independence.”
“…the history of the black-hole debate leaves me uneasy. There is a repeating pattern of airtight assurances—presented with utter conviction—that are quietly abandoned later when the scientific bedrock upon which they are based suddenly erodes.”
“My argument is one of law. My conviction is that, when a black-hole case arrives on a docket, no court should abdicate its role as a bursar of equity, even where, as here, the socio-political pressure to abstain will be immense, the factual terrain will be intensely intellectually challenging, and the jurisprudential conundrums are legion. At the end of the day, whether the LHC represents an intolerable danger is, in my view, an open question. I have not endeavored to provide a definitive answer. But I think the courts should. […] Otherwise, the wildly expanding sphere of human knowledge will overwhelm the institution of the courts and undo the rule of law—just when we need it most.”
Over all, this new 90-page study provides well structured and strong evidences that several concrete disaster scenarios cannot be excluded to arise from the big bang machine and thus have to be taken very seriously by scientific and political decision makers and the public. Especially, the paper provides important orientation to courts and for further studies. As a scientific document, it is now without doubt central in the LHC risk debate.
Recently, an international group of critics and experts filed a detailed complaint at the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations at Geneva concerning risks and dangers of the planned experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A law suit filed at the European Court of Human Rights is pending, another at the German Constitutional Court, an American case is in appeal.
Risk assessment expert and ethicist Dr. Mark Leggett concludes in a recent study, that the CERN safety report is, “from a number of authoritative standpoints, out of date”, “has a conflict of interest” and satisfies less than a fifth of the expectable criteria. Chaos theory pioneer Prof. Otto E. Roessler estimates the risk of a black hole disaster at 15% if the experiment should continue as planned. Astrophysicist Dr. Rainer Plaga in well respected studies insistently talks about a “residual risk”. Well known physicist Dr. Tony Rothman suggests a permanent mechanism to deal with science and new technology concerns. Leading risk researcher Prof. Wolfgang Kromp supports a special environmental impact assessment of the LHC. Famous “thinker of speed” Prof. Paul Virilio strongly criticizes the experiment. Scientists from the “Future of Humanity Institute” of the University of Oxford conclude in a study that the CERN safety report cannot be the last word in the case.
Further info and contact to LHC-critical groups having filed law suits concerning LHC dangers:
“Many of the physicists quoted in the media on LHC safety issues seem not to have engaged with the literature in any depth,” Johnson told PhysOrg.com. “Physicists speaking to the public about the black-holes question portray it as a simple matter. It really is not. At the end of the day, the LHC may or may not be safe, but most of the arguments you hear in favor of the collider lack robustness.”
Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 10:44.
Bloomberg reviews [1] Dr. Johnson's paper "The Black Hole Case: The Injuction Against the End of the World" [2]
"... As science progresses, the possibility climbs ever higher that the fondest dreams of scientists might entail risks of planetary destruction -- whether it’s the next physics experiment at even-higher energy or a genetic experiment that might unleash the perfect disease. The best science explores things far from our understanding. How can we know that things we do not understand will not kill us?" [1]
-------------------------
"conCERNed international" filed a detailed human rights complaint at the UN against the CERN member states for not having carried out their legal responsibilities to ensure citizens’ safety.
Please take a closer look at this important paper, which includes a detailed physical section describing the scientific discourse yet also has a general and very profound approach to the topic. It provides clear suggestions to improve safety and to urgently set new standards in high energy particle collider risk evaluation and features many critical quotes of well known scientists from different disciplines including physicists, astronomers, risk researchers, philosophers and legal experts:
Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 01/18/2010 - 10:01.
German FirmenPress reports [1][2] "...in Geneva for a private conversation between the Tubingen chaos theorist Prof. Dr. Otto E. Rössler and the CERN scientist Prof. Dr. Rolf Landua come." "As one of the most prominent critics of the experiments at CERN had Roessler estimates the probability of the emergence of a black hole with 15 percent."
Possibility of Black Hole Production at LHC confirmed!
Colliding Particles Can Make Black Holes
By Adrian Cho
ScienceNOW Daily News
22 January 2010
You've heard the controversy. Particle physicists predict the world's new highest-energy atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland, might create tiny black holes, which they say would be a fantastic discovery. Some doomsayers fear those black holes might gobble up Earth--physicist say that's impossible--and have petitioned the United Nations to stop the $5.5 billion LHC. Curiously, though, nobody had ever shown that the prevailing theory of gravity, Einstein's theory of general relativity, actually predicts that a black hole can be made this way. Now a computer model shows conclusively for the first time that a particle collision really can make a black hole.
[...]
Does that mean the LHC will make black holes? Not necessarily, Choptuik says. The Planck energy is a quintillion times higher than the LHC's maximum. So the only way the LHC might make black holes is if, instead of being three dimensional, space actually has more dimensions that are curled into little loops too small to be detected except in a high-energy particle collision. Predicted by certain theories, those extra dimensions might effectively lower the Planck energy by a huge factor.
[...]
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2010/122/1
Prof. Eric E. Johnson: “THE BLACK HOLE CASE"
New study: CERN / LHC / Big Bang Machine / Dangers / Black Hole Case / Human Rights / Lawsuits / Prof. Eric Johnson
Legal expert Prof. Eric E. Johnson (University of North Dakota) profoundly analyses the discourse on dangers and risks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operated by the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland in a new independent and critical study.
His multi-disciplinary perspective covers legal and socio-psychological aspects (“groupthink”) and also reflects the physical discussion in many details:
“THE BLACK HOLE CASE: THE INJUNCTION AGAINST THE END OF THE WORLD”
Published in the Tennessee Law Review, Dec. 2009.
Internet source, abstract: http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.5480
Pdf: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0912/0912.5480.pdf
The renowned “Technology Review” (MIT) has just published a very interesting article about Prof. Johnson’s study:
“The Case of the Collider and the Great Black Hole
The physicists have had their say. Now a legal study asks how a court might handle a request to halt a multibillion-dollar particle-physics experiment. The analysis makes for startling reading.
[…]
Today, we get a fascinating new perspective on the issue from Eric Johnson […]”
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24611/
Quotes from the critical conclusion of Prof. Johnson:
“Even a tiny chance of a black-hole catastrophe could be very significant as matter of equity before a court. The alleged downside, after all, is the disappearance of our planet down a cosmic drain. From my perspective as a lawyer, sizing up the merits of the case, I find the assurances provided by the particle-physics community to be quite lacking. In particular, I am struck by the fact that the safety assurances are based on scientific work that brazenly lacks independence.”
“…the history of the black-hole debate leaves me uneasy. There is a repeating pattern of airtight assurances—presented with utter conviction—that are quietly abandoned later when the scientific bedrock upon which they are based suddenly erodes.”
“My argument is one of law. My conviction is that, when a black-hole case arrives on a docket, no court should abdicate its role as a bursar of equity, even where, as here, the socio-political pressure to abstain will be immense, the factual terrain will be intensely intellectually challenging, and the jurisprudential conundrums are legion. At the end of the day, whether the LHC represents an intolerable danger is, in my view, an open question. I have not endeavored to provide a definitive answer. But I think the courts should. […] Otherwise, the wildly expanding sphere of human knowledge will overwhelm the institution of the courts and undo the rule of law—just when we need it most.”
Over all, this new 90-page study provides well structured and strong evidences that several concrete disaster scenarios cannot be excluded to arise from the big bang machine and thus have to be taken very seriously by scientific and political decision makers and the public. Especially, the paper provides important orientation to courts and for further studies. As a scientific document, it is now without doubt central in the LHC risk debate.
Recently, an international group of critics and experts filed a detailed complaint at the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations at Geneva concerning risks and dangers of the planned experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A law suit filed at the European Court of Human Rights is pending, another at the German Constitutional Court, an American case is in appeal.
Risk assessment expert and ethicist Dr. Mark Leggett concludes in a recent study, that the CERN safety report is, “from a number of authoritative standpoints, out of date”, “has a conflict of interest” and satisfies less than a fifth of the expectable criteria. Chaos theory pioneer Prof. Otto E. Roessler estimates the risk of a black hole disaster at 15% if the experiment should continue as planned. Astrophysicist Dr. Rainer Plaga in well respected studies insistently talks about a “residual risk”. Well known physicist Dr. Tony Rothman suggests a permanent mechanism to deal with science and new technology concerns. Leading risk researcher Prof. Wolfgang Kromp supports a special environmental impact assessment of the LHC. Famous “thinker of speed” Prof. Paul Virilio strongly criticizes the experiment. Scientists from the “Future of Humanity Institute” of the University of Oxford conclude in a study that the CERN safety report cannot be the last word in the case.
Further info and contact to LHC-critical groups having filed law suits concerning LHC dangers:
www.LHC-concern.info
Tel.: 0043 650 629 627 5
www.concerned.international.com
Tel.: (001) 518-641-2279
www.LHC-defense.org
A Lawyer’s View of the Risk of Black Hole Catastrophe at the LHC
Newest article on Prof. Eric Johnson’s important critical study with multidisciplinary implications:
A Lawyer’s View of the Risk of Black Hole Catastrophe at the LHC:
http://www.physorg.com/news183380986.html
“Many of the physicists quoted in the media on LHC safety issues seem not to have engaged with the literature in any depth,” Johnson told PhysOrg.com. “Physicists speaking to the public about the black-holes question portray it as a simple matter. It really is not. At the end of the day, the LHC may or may not be safe, but most of the arguments you hear in favor of the collider lack robustness.”
Bloomberg reviews Prof. Johnson's paper
Bloomberg reviews [1] Dr. Johnson's paper "The Black Hole Case: The Injuction Against the End of the World" [2]
"... As science progresses, the possibility climbs ever higher that the fondest dreams of scientists might entail risks of planetary destruction -- whether it’s the next physics experiment at even-higher energy or a genetic experiment that might unleash the perfect disease. The best science explores things far from our understanding. How can we know that things we do not understand will not kill us?" [1]
[1] Kevin Hassett, Bloomberg.com (11 Jan 2010) Atom Smasher Exposes Hole in Earth’s Defenses;
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=acnHtIDcdERA
[2] Eric E. Johnson, Asst Prof. of Law; (30 Dec 2009) The Black Hole Case: The Injuction Against the End of the World;
http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.5480
New articles CERN / LHC December 5 2009:
www.LHC-concern.info | www.global-risk-sig.org | www.lhcfacts.org | www.risk-evaluation-forum.org | www.concerned-international.com
LHC breakdown this week:
"Collider weathers power cut":
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/02/2140810.aspx
"Weird science":
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091204/OPINION/71...
"Large Hadron Collider grinds to a halt… again":
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/02/large-hadron-collider-grinds-to-a-hal...
Detailed summarizing critical article with many references by Prof. Lloyd B. Lueptow, suggesting to halt the experiments:
http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/09-11-11#feature
New critical book about the LHC-experiments:
"No Canary in the Quanta:
Who Gets to Decide if the Large Hadron Collider is Worth Gambling Our Planet?" (Kindle Edition)
by Harry V. Lehmann
http://www.amazon.com/No-Canary-Quanta-Collider-ebook/dp/B002W5RAYA/ref=...
“How safe is the LHC, really?”
By James Larcombe:
http://larcombe.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/how-safe-is-the-lhc-really/
Very critical article in German:
Tageszeitung “Junge Welt” Nr. 281:
04.12.2009 / Feuilleton / Seite 13
http://www.jungewelt.de/2009/12-04/016.php
-------------------------
"conCERNed international" filed a detailed human rights complaint at the UN against the CERN member states for not having carried out their legal responsibilities to ensure citizens’ safety.
Please take a closer look at this important paper, which includes a detailed physical section describing the scientific discourse yet also has a general and very profound approach to the topic. It provides clear suggestions to improve safety and to urgently set new standards in high energy particle collider risk evaluation and features many critical quotes of well known scientists from different disciplines including physicists, astronomers, risk researchers, philosophers and legal experts:
www.concerned-international.com
Newsblog, downloads and linklist concerning UN complaint and LHC:
www.LHC-concern.info
www.LHC-concern.info | www.concerned-international.com
CERN meets with opposition scientist Prof. Otto Rössler
German FirmenPress reports [1][2] "...in Geneva for a private conversation between the Tubingen chaos theorist Prof. Dr. Otto E. Rössler and the CERN scientist Prof. Dr. Rolf Landua come." "As one of the most prominent critics of the experiments at CERN had Roessler estimates the probability of the emergence of a black hole with 15 percent."
[1] German: FirmenPresse, CERN aktuell: LHC-Kritiker Prof. Rössler in der „Höhle des Löwen“ (Jan 15, 2010) http://www.firmenpresse.de/pressinfo153147.html
[2] English: FirmenPresse, CERN date: LHC critics Prof. Rössler in the "lion's den" (Jan 15, 2010) http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout...