Will proof of the Higgs boson disappoint you?

Today Cern will announce news concerning finding signs of the Higgs boson, or the so called “God Particle”.

I wonder if you will be disappointed that some of the mystery of the universe has been explained away. Does finding the God Particle decrease the chances of a deeper mystery and leave you filled with less wonder?

Originally posted by mandroids
Today Cern will announce news concerning finding signs of the Higgs boson, or the so called “God Particle”.

I wonder if you will be disappointed that some of the mystery of the universe has been explained away. Does finding the God Particle decrease the chances of a deeper mystery and leave you filled with less wonder?

I'll have to say it won't really bother me all that much if they did come up with something solid (although last I heard, there was general disappointment as they weren't really finding anything they didn't already know - will be interesting to see what they come up with).

The universe is still an utterly amazing place with so many other mysteries and weirdness for us to keep working on, so while interesting, this would just be one small piece of a very large and intricate puzzle.

Yes, I agree. there is more to look for and find in the universe.

Well, even if you were to tell me how a car works, of what parts it is made, and what is the composition of ALL the parts making the car, I would still see there was a designer and builder behind it.

I have never felt that science explained God away satisfactorily. On the contrary, I think it only shows what wonders He can do.

There. You have it as it is for me.

Originally posted by NowanKenubi
Well, even if you were to tell me how a car works, of what parts it is made, and what is the composition of ALL the parts making the car, I would still see there was a designer and builder behind it.

I have never felt that science explained God away satisfactorily. On the contrary, I think it only shows what wonders He can do.

There. You have it as it is for me.

I agree entirely.

Its only another small peice of the puzzle, the universe is far from being completly explain and understood.

Whatever cern says, im sure it will still take me a few weeks to understand properly

Actually, even IF they find it, it will lead to even greater mysteries. Scientists are finally realizing that their long held belief that the speed of light was some unbreakable law in order to try and fit their model to explain EVERYTHING. It is an exciting time to be alive. Much like the early 20th century when we abandoned the horse and started to take to the sky.

Its not disappointing, just rather pointless at the moment.

Like the particles which may/may not travel faster than the speed of light. Its all very interesting, but call me when it has a practicle use. Just because a particle can travel faster than the speed of light, doesn't mean I will be doing so any time soon. Likewise just because we have proved the existance of the Higgs Boson doesn't mean anything usefull can come of it. Its cost billions of pounds/dollars/euros/yen (take your pick) and what does it mean?

If they find anything super interesting we wont find out about it anyway, usually anything this espensive just turns into more and more inventive ways of killing people as the military get hold of it.

I'm sure (if anything can come of it), that something good will come out too, but all too often it is outweighed by the bad. Take all that money, time and effort, and cure cancer, or fight famine/disease, or find the cure for aids, or have the best education systems ever.

It reminds me of an episode of the big bang theory, where they are using their laptops over the internet to control the lights of their house. The fact that from their living room, they can send a signal accross the globe, through satellites, to a server, then back again in the blink of an eye, AND control the lights, as a feat of man, is amazing. Its geeky, its interesting, and is fascinating in what it achieves because of its complexity, but overall its utterly pointless and you have to wonder why they would bother. I feel the same about this.

Originally posted by the owlbear
Actually, even IF they find it, it will lead to even greater mysteries. Scientists are finally realizing that their long held belief that the speed of light was some unbreakable law in order to try and fit their model to explain EVERYTHING. It is an exciting time to be alive. Much like the early 20th century when we abandoned the horse and started to take to the sky.

Yes, curious times we live in. Lots going on.

For people who have no understanding of what they have done it is probably mundane and uninteresting. For those who have even a basic understanding of what the higgs field is, it will be considered one of the most important achievements in human history thus far.

Like the particles which may/may not travel faster than the speed of light. Its all very interesting, but call me when it has a practicle use. Just because a particle can travel faster than the speed of light, doesn't mean I will be doing so any time soon. Likewise just because we have proved the existance of the Higgs Boson doesn't mean anything usefull can come of it. Its cost billions of pounds/dollars/euros/yen (take your pick) and what does it mean?

How do you know there will be no practical applications from this research at the LHC? cern has already produced many practical applications in our eveyday life in industry, medicine and the internet ect. Here is pdf on the subject:technologytransfer.web.cern.ch...

Originally posted by Atzil321
For people who have no understanding of what they have done it is probably mundane and uninteresting. For those who have even a basic understanding of what the higgs field is, it will be considered one of the most important achievements in human history thus far.

How so and will this take away any mystery for you?

reply to post by mandroids


@Will proof of the Higgs boson disappoint you?

No, it will be interesting to see how the new possible find can effect reality as its known..

Originally posted by mandroids
Today Cern will announce news concerning finding signs of the Higgs boson, or the so called “God Particle”.

I wonder if you will be disappointed that some of the mystery of the universe has been explained away. Does finding the God Particle decrease the chances of a deeper mystery and leave you filled with less wonder?

Nope, even finding it they won't understand it and all their standard models are already broken due to the speed of light being broken.

I wish them luck in determining the truth of their studies.

There are two independent teams at CERN searching for the boson that will be comparing their data/findings. Both is unaware (apparently) of the others results. Rumours are that they have found a certain 'spike' or signature in the data that they believe may be the boson.

If the two teams findings are exactly the same, this increases the chances of the boson (or something else) being found but apparently we won't know for certain until next year some time. It could also mean they are both running a flawed experiment or working with flawed equipment. We don't know for sure. As I said in another thread, we will just get a dangling carrot at best.

IRM

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
There are two independent teams at CERN searching for the boson that will be comparing their data/findings. Both is unaware (apparently) of the others results. Rumours are that they have found a certain 'spike' or signature in the data that they believe may be the boson.

If the two teams findings are exactly the same, this increases the chances of the boson (or something else) being found but apparently we won't know for certain until next year some time. It could also mean they are both running a flawed experiment or working with flawed equipment. We don't know for sure. As I said in another thread, we will just get a dangling carrot at best.

IRM

Fair enough, in a technical sense, but how will this make you feel? will some of the shine of mystery be taken away from the universe?

reply to post by InfaRedMan


I caught the end of the seminar and i can say that you are pretty much right on the money, they havnt exactly 'caught' the higgs boson in a jar like a firefly, but they have found some very positive results that mean that they are on the right track.

The main Prof wrapped it up saying "we do still have alot of work to do over the next few years, but these findings are very reassuring" - paraphrasing a little there

reply to post by PGRacer


Regarding the particles you refer to (neutrinos) which may travel faster than the speed of light, the real draw here is that if this is indeed the case, and it would seem so following more recent studies:

www.bbc.co.uk...

Is the possibility it presents of been able to go back in time, If that is true and essentially we would be able to witness effect essentially before the cause: This article provides a more concise overview:

See below:
www.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by Biigs


Dang! I missed it! 'The next few years isn't as immediate as some time in 2012. I guess crossing all those T's and dotting the I's is going to take some time. Thanks for the heads up!

IRM

Originally posted by mandroids
Fair enough, in a technical sense, but how will this make you feel? will some of the shine of mystery be taken away from the universe?

I will feel nothing really. If it's there... great. If it's not... well... the universe is still exactly the same. Perhaps there is something else even more exotic we haven't even dreamed up yet. Who knows eh! There is always something new to find.

IRM

I would rather we kept this to the philosophical consequences of finding the Higgs Boson.