Superfluous science

We’re all going to die. Well, maybe. Two American citizens have filed a lawsuit in order to prevent the colliding of protons in a large particle accelerator known as the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland. The fear, according to the filers of the suit, is that this colliding of protons would create an ever-increasing black hole that would devour the earth and eventually the universe.\nOf course the scientists in Wales who would be conducting the experiment disagree. However, if these scientists are wrong, how would we hold them accountable? We couldn’t. And while I doubt this experiment will cause the universe to be devoured, I do believe we are going down a dangerous path and could have regrets in the future.\nIs the pursuit of knowledge worth risking not only one life, but all our lives? Radios, televisions, refrigerators and microwaves are all really nice inventions, and without science we would have none of these, but I don’t believe finding out what life was like a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang – the object of the experiment – is going to improve my life. Science can be a beautiful tool, but some things just aren’t going to help the well-being of the people, and could actually be potentially dangerous – as is the case with the black hole.\nWhether these particular scientists go through with this experiment or not, I don’t want scientists to even know how to create a black hole with the capability of destroying the universe. All it takes is one scientist with a tragic love affair to decide that life isn’t worth living anymore and he’s taking the rest of us with him.\nLook at the fear the creation of the atomic bomb brought to people around the world during the Cold War era. That fear still exists even today! Just look at Iran and how desperately we’re trying to keep nuclear weapons out of its hands – and I must say with good cause. Now just imagine allowing them to have something infinitely stronger. It’s argued that the world would be a better place if the atomic bomb had never been developed. I believe that in the future, if we continue down this path, people will be making the same claims about black holes.\nInstead of wasting time discovering things that will likely never help us, let’s look for things that will actually prove to be beneficial to us in the future. Our resources and money could be used to fuel research in so many other more potentially beneficial ways. People may be living fairly comfortably nowadays, but there are still a lot of things out there that can make our lives a little bit better. Let’s find a cure for cancer or HIV, or if that doesn’t suit the fancy of certain scientists, how about inventing a keyboard that prevents my fingers from aching after a semester of essays and papers. There are so many great things to discover or invent that avoiding the science of black holes shouldn’t be a problem.