Stephen Hawking: God particle could wipe out the universe

In a preface to a new book, the famed physicist fears the Higgs Boson becoming unstable and causing a "catastrophic vacuum decay." But how likely is that really?

Stephen Hawking seems to have turned into the man with the sandwich board that says: "The end is nigh."

Not only has he warned us that aliens might destroy us, but he's also been worrying that artificial intelligence might do the same.

Now he's perceiving a threat that might not merely put an end to Earth, but to the whole Universe.

As the UK's Sunday Times reports, Hawking is worried about the God particle. This, discovered by physicists during experiments within CERN's Large Hadron Collider, is a vital ingredient to explaining why things in our world have mass.

However, in a preface to a new book called "Starmus" -- a collection of lectures given by famous scientists and astronomers -- Hawking worried that the Higgs Boson might become unstable.

He wrote: "The Higgs potential has the worrisome feature that it might become metastable at energies above 100bn gigaelectronvolts (GeV)."

What might this lead to? Hawkins explained: "This could mean that the universe could undergo catastrophic vacuum decay, with a bubble of the true vacuum expanding at the speed of light. This could happen at any time and we wouldn't see it coming."

Before you prepare your loved ones for an evacuation to some distant star, Hawking did offer some hope with, it seems, a wry smile: "A particle accelerator that reaches 100bn GeV would be larger than Earth, and is unlikely to be funded in the present economic climate.
In essence, then, his fears might be theoretically valid, but their likelihood of actually coming to pass is somewhat smaller than that of the New York Jets winning the next Super Bowl.

www.cnet.com...

Ok it seems unlikely and trust me I ain't no physicist but the current Collider is pretty damned big, it is not crazy to think we could make a collider in space ,perhaps not the mass of the earth but could encircle it if we build it kinda like 2001 Space Odyssey style or even Elysium I think if the payday is big enough, example if this meant that we could have a way to the stars we just might pony-up the money to do it as a planet much like building the Intl space station,off course it's hard to see it right now cause we broke as hell especially the United States buuut??.

a reply to: Spider879

well he does have motor neurons disease... probably having issues to do with his illness.
I am sure it is Hawking with MND... or have I got him confused with someone else?

a reply to: Spider879

In his (close to last days) I am glad he has opened his mind to what if type scenarios.. If a few more would have thought "what if" about Agent Orange, DDT, genetically modified crops and the use of Round-up or Thalidomide the world would be a better place for many, IMO..... S^F.

a reply to: 727Sky
Richard Dawkins? I am sure I just read his name on this thread... wow.

Maybe that is his new ID?

LOL

a reply to: Spider879

it is not crazy to think we could make a collider in space

No it isn't crazy , I believe there are proposals for one in the future , although not on that scale.
As for the claim made by Dr.Hawking I think it's firmly tongue in cheek and designed to get publicity for his new book ....which it seems to have done.

Yeah, right o Stephen, because we're the only beings in the Universe to have discovered it.

Maybe he's been hacked.
Get his primary carer on side and say what you want- who would know?

More seriously- given the scale of the Universe, the age of the Universe and the Energy of the Universe- what are the chances that we could initiate any such catastrophe?

What could we do to any mass/particle/state that hasn't already (given the above variables) happened somewhere else in the Universe- via natural or none natural means?

He's already changed his mind on event horizons so maybe we should just recognise that book sales have become his primary focus.

a reply to: Jukiodone

just read some info about Richard Dawkins and he is a right nut job... so perhaps they have the article/gossip confused with authors?

Hawkings has not put out much at all for the last 10 or so years due to ill health....

probably stems from that Dawkins twat.

a reply to: [post=18433604]Thurisaz[/post

Wouldnt say he was a twat but he is on the list of scientists that have abandoned rational analysis for headline grabbing free marketing to drive book sales...the God Delusion was quite well written and the argument was well presented.

a reply to: Jukiodone

you can't put Dawkins and Hawking in the same caliber. Dawkins is in philanthropy and ethnography... human science. Hawking is in Maths & Physics.

The smartest bloke on the planet is a vegetable

I dont buy it!

originally posted by: notjustanother
The smartest bloke on the planet is a vegetable
I dont buy it!

That's because you don't understand it.
Professor hawking suffers from motor neurone disease there in nothing wrong with his mind.

a reply to: gortex

The life expectancy of MND is 3 years if your lucky...
Hawking has had the disease for 40 years...

He claims the NHS is why he is still alive...
I'm betting it's another government alphabet group!!!



With that said...
If it is him and not an android...

He is only stating what others have for years!!!

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Life expectancy for about half of those with the condition is three to four years from the start of symptoms. However, some people may live for up to 10 years, and others even longer.
www.nhs.uk...

I think it likely he one of the lucky ones , that coupled with his mental strength is probably why he is still here.
For a man who's faced what he has and contributed what he has to science makes him a human wonder and fully deserving of my / our utmost respect , he is an example of what we are truly capable of.

originally posted by: Spider879

Hawking did offer some hope with, it seems, a wry smile: "A particle accelerator that reaches 100bn GeV would be larger than Earth, and is unlikely to be funded in the present economic climate."

What economic climate is he talking about?

If I were judging whether Dr. Hawking were or were not an android as previously speculated, I would say definitely android, because a purported intelligent man who says Higgs Boson could wipe out the universe - and humans should fear aliens, would not limit the threat to a human economy.

I just THINK that this is how he makes a joke
Good fun

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Magic Johnson got HIV in a time when everyone was marked good as dead but he is still alive.

Regardless, why would any gov't agency need a Stephen Hawkings as an android or keep the illusion that he is still alive?

www.worldsciencefestival.com...

The process of transitioning to a lower energy state is sometimes called “vacuum decay.” If it occurred at any point in the universe, the bubble of this new vacuum state would expand outward at the speed of light. We wouldn’t have any warning until we were obliterated very suddenly. But getting to this new state requires an intense amount of energy—which is one of the reasons why Katie Mack, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Melbourne, thinks it’s extremely unlikely that we’ll be swallowed up by a cosmic death bubble any time soon.