Cartoon Pen & Watercolour
Copyright 2008 Jean Burman
Okay… so we’re ALL STILL HERE!
So far… no black holes… no implosions of the planet… no end of the world… no swallowing of the earth into the infinite black void. So far. But it’s early days yet. And if the hackers have their way… as they did on Friday… who knows what the final outcome might be?
But getting back to the issue of boys and their toys (oops… I meant physics)
As the world turned last Wednesday night… physicists from around the globe (some of them in their pyjamas – others sipping champagne) waited and watched as the world’s largest particle accelerator… the Large Hadron Collider (LHC for short)… was switched on for the very first time.
The atmosphere of expectation could have been measured against humankind’s long awaited first steps on the moon back in 1969. And this ambitious experiment may eventually prove to be even more significant and impactful than that.
It will be anywhere between a week and several months before the first protons collide somewhere along the LHC’s 27 kilometre length. And then… apparently… all will be revealed.
Questions like:
1. Where did we really come from… and why?
2. What really happened in the moments after the Big Bang?
3. Are there more dimensions than the three we have grown somewhat accustomed to?
(Let’s face it… as a visual artist with a vested interest in the two dimensional… I simply must know what challenges lie ahead for we artists living and working in the parallel world! chuckles)
Hey… come to think of it… these physicists could have saved themselves a truckload of time and money by looking to the art world for an answer to this one. Picasso for one… lived and worked in the parallel world… as did Jackson Pollock… and Salvador Dali to name but a few. Each had a unique and individual perspective on the world. All lived in the parallel world and reported back (pretty accurately) what they saw! Pretty scarey really.
4. Do black holes exist… and how can we manufacture one?
The experts need look no further than the literary world for the skinny on this one. Way back in 1854 Henry David Thoreau wrote… “the MASS of men lead lives of quiet desperation” Now there’s a guy who knew a MASSive black hole when he saw one!
5. Will the elusive God particle be found… explaining once and for all “how matter has mass”? (Something I’m sure most of us have been wondering about for much of our lives… grin)
The question of whether matter has mass… or mass has matter… or whether it matters at all if mass has matter… or matter has mass… (or whatever – sheesh)… is now something for physicists and their financial backers to ponder over and agonise about in the years to come.
What horrors this new technology might unleash are as yet unknown… although we have been given “many and varied relatively vague assurances that the experiment is ENTIRELY safe”. It was rather concerning then… when leading physicist in charge of the project Dr Lyn Evans (Evans the Atom to his friends) in all the confusion on the control room floor didn’t quite know (and had to ask his equally confused team)… “who’s going to remove the TDI” (the TDI? What TDI? Um – what in the heck is a TDI?) to allow the beam to flow through into the LHC.
Okay that’s about as clear as mud… so watch the video here and see for yourself.
NB. Scroll through until around about the middle if you’re not the type who enjoys watching grass grow.
For the man/woman in the street… truth is… it doesn’t matter. The matter of mass is all done and dusted. The Large Hadron Collider is here to stay… along with genetic engineering of crops and destruction of the food chain… in vitro genetic pre-selection of people… and the indiscriminate dissemination of nuclear warheads by irresponsible, morally corrupt despots. Like it or lump it… (one lump or two?)… it’s a BRAVE … if somewhat stupid… NEW WORLD.
“But”… you might exclaim… “no-one consulted me!”
So what’s new? Information is released on a need to know basis. You didn’t need to know. Did you?
It’s all mind over matter anyway.
They don’t mind and… quite frankly… you don’t “matter”
Sorry… (big cheesey grin)
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