I read that on the eve of the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico, the scientists there had a betting pool on what the end result would be. Some of the greatest scientific minds of the era disagreed in a range from "Nothing much" to "Really big boom" to "Chain reaction ending the world."
The trial of a new technology--and this was a very powerful technology indeed--is always fraught with doubts. Even the best-informed minds can reach what turn out to be illogical conclusions.
But a particle collider is not new technology. It's been used, every day, around the world, for decades. The difference here is that this collider is bigger. It's function is the same: Accelerate sub-atomic particles so that they smash into each other. In colliders around the world, the output has been very bright flashes of light and some heat. With this larger one, what can We expect?
More bright lights and heat. Not the media-hype type, but the energy-transfer type. Science, people, nothing more. Not infallible, but well within reason and precaution.
In the 80s, the planets "aligned." Roughly seven planets were within 15 degrees of arc spread across 2 light-years of distance and a volume of space equal to 1/5 Our Universe. The effect would be like lining up seven balls totaling 1 ounce of matter in a line between Madrid and Beijing.
People called Me and wanted to know if the world would end. I first answered no, tried to explain, then eventually gave up and simply said "Yes."
Call it Natural Selection by way of a Jenius.
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