Large Hadron Collider: Public chooses 'Halo' as its new name, page 1

www.telegraph.co.uk.../earth/2008/09/17/scilhc117.xm

Forget about the yawn-inducing Large Hadron Collider.

The name "Halo" sounds much catchier and should adorn the £4.4 billion experiment, according to a poll organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry in London

The Large Hadron Collider does what it says on the tin, since hadron refers to the subatomic particles that the giant machine smashes together at a shade below the speed of light.

But this "fails to reflect the drama of its mission, or the inspiration it should be conveying to the wider public," says Dr Richard Pike, chief executive of the Society.

I think Halo is very 'fitting' as a name. The LHC/Halo is similar to the Halo megastructures from the Bungie video game series. Except that the video game versions were purposfully designed as a weapon.

DocMoreau

reply to post by DocMoreau

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The renaming of things laden with negative connotation is an old pagan custom that originated in the rituals of early Homo sapiens. If Zero begins to demonstrate negative property and moves toward Bad, then Zero will be renamed to Good. The renaming was believed to affect the property of Zero turned bad.

Christianity dealt with the uncertainties of immense power demonstration by assigning positive attributes to Zero to stabilize it. God is almighty and therefore capable of anything, but have no fear, for He loves us all.

Renaming the Large Hadron Collider to neutral Halo is a result of instinctive and ritualistic behavior of some Homo sapiens whose genetic linage still connects with the deep past. But in this particular case, the powerful instinct of self-preservation resulted in renaming Bad to Zero: Zero is considered a neutral concept in evolutionary psychology, and Halo doesn't manifest negative/positive polarity. It is a very interesting case of psychological disarmament.

Some evolutionary psychologists speculate that the reduction of the original three-word name to just one name is the result of the ritualistic instinct of power reducing by quantity. Since one is less than three, the black-hole producing power of LHC will be reduced and the installation will not be able to cause a global catastrophe.

reply to post by apex

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Maybe instead of suing CERN, Microsoft should pay them naming rights, like a sports stadium. HALO: CERN's Large Hadron Collider brought to you by XBOX 360



reply to post by stander

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I totally agree with what you are saying, esoterically, but also in modern propagandad sense.

"Large Hadron Collider" already has so much bad/uneasy press, that "Halo" with it's 'angelic'/pop culture connotations provides an excellent opportunity to 're-brand' in the public's perception.

I wonder how many people realize the connections between modern advertising/logotypes and esoteric symbols.
DocMoreau

reply to post by pazcat

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Bill Bailey speculated on what the board scientists will do at the LHC.

"Psshhhh-krrrr.
It's not working.
Turn it off then on again."

Or it goes, but they don't get anything.

"Um, put a satsuma and a Malteser.
Make a sateser.
A cream egg and a cockroach
It'd be a cream egg that could survive a nuclear blast
It's be the only thing you could eat."

reply to post by DocMoreau

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Chilling? Not in the least. May I suggest you read about the LHC and the underlying physics at play? If you did, you'd be as scared of it as a box of puppies. Expensive puppies.

reply to post by dave420

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Chilling, yes... at least to me. I understand the underlying physics behind LHC, thanks... Perhaps you are unaware what a 'Halo' is?

en.wikipedia.org...(megastructure)

According to Halo's fiction, the Forerunners built the rings for two purposes. The first use of the rings was to contain and study the Flood, an infectious alien parasite. The rings also act together as a weapon of last resort; when fired, the rings kill any sentient life capable of falling prey to the Flood, starving the parasite of its food.

One would think that if CERN were trying to bring positive face to their structure, that perhaps naming it after a 'weapon of last resort' that kills all 'sentient life' is perhaps a bad idea. Especially in light of the widespread paranoia that the LHC could screw up and destroy the planet and kill all the life on it.

So yes, for me, it is a bit chilling, but thanks for playing.
Your Xbox Live account has been updated accordingly.

DocMoreau

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