
The Large Hadron Collider sets its sights on dark matter - kurren
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/04/large-hadron-collider-refit-dark-matter
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A thought provoking article in a recent issue of Scientific American states
that a troubling issue is what the LHC has not found yet. Namely,
supersymmetry pairs for Standard Model particles.

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/supersymmetry-
and-...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/supersymmetry-and-the-
crisis-in-physics/)

It's behind a paywall apparently (I have a subscription) so here's an
evaluation of the article with many snippets:

[http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=6836](http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=6836)

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Create
The only reason it is troubling is, that entire careers are based on it,
without the slightest spec of evidence. Since decades.

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joshbaptiste
Even if you aren't necessarily into Physics there is a great documentary
called "Particle Fever" (also on Netflix) which has documented the Higgs
particle discovery and the general purpose of the LHC.

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Create
Have you ever wondered how the media work and why some topics make it into the
news and other don't?

Special Seminar: How to deal with the media: maximising opportunity and
minimising threat / Pryce-Jones, Jessica (speaker) (Managing Director of the
consultancy iOpener Ltd) ; Pillai, Nisha (speaker) (news anchor for BBC World)

This session will cover how to work effectively with the media including
print, radio and TV. You'll get an insight into how journalists and news rooms
operate and what they would like from you [...]

[http://cds.cern.ch/record/1127343](http://cds.cern.ch/record/1127343)

Propaganda.

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macspoofing
I don't see a problem. I think a little training for dealing with media is a
good thing.

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Create
Most reporters are lazy or pressed for time or both and don't fact-check. This
has been a problem for some time. Many articles are also generated by software
or thrown together by minimum wage workers to generate clicks. This has also
been a problem for some time.

As a consumer of news, you always have to keep that in the back of your mind
when you read news.

iOpener, Auntie.

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artur_makly
forgive my naiveté.. but can someone explain to me why we are spending SO much
$ and neurons on such projects rather than our impending ecological doom?

Honestly i dont care if super symmetry or multi-universe exists. It's becoming
as absurd as ...almost as religion itself. Enough is enough.

The hard problems to really solve are all around us now and in the very near
future ( as it always has been ) .. The joke will be on us when some
scientists in his cave screams AHA i've found "IT"! and sadly discovers that
no one is left in existence to even hear it. But different strokes for diff
folks no?

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visakanv
Sure, I'll give it a shot.

1: It's not that much $ and neurons, actually. We spend far more marketing
lipstick and selling mobile games. If your priority is to reduce wasted
spending, there are far worse candidates.

2: Original science and research has consistently yielded some of the biggest
game-changers in technology (and subsequently, human well-being) than anything
else. Libraries, electricity, the Internet, all of those felt like frivolous
indulgences when they were starting out.

3: Projects like these are exploratory, which makes them inspiring. People are
curious and eager to learn. This puts a pressure on the educational pipeline.
People become scientists to learn answers to these questions. They use these
skillsets for other things as well. I recommend listening to Neil Tyson
talking about space:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUbOjZWjTLU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUbOjZWjTLU)

I agree that our impending ecological doom is an issue. If you want to get
into the psychology of it- people simply don't feel the pinch yet. It seems
vague, distant, something we can't do very much about. It's the same reason
people tend to be bad at planning for their retirements.

That said, the world is a better place with the LHC than not. There are far
worse things we spend our $ and neurons on that we ought to cull first!

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artur_makly
thanks for those points.

"impending ecological doom is an issue" \- best case a rounding statistical
error - that will pass, no big woop. \- Worst case. jokes on us.

yes some serious culling is needed but on both sides of the spectrum. We must
be very careful how our tiny scientific community applies itself these days
too.

I just watched the video, Tyson makes some nice points. I agree that we should
invest in dreaming about tomorrow... but i feel that tomorrow's science and
today's scientific neurons should be applied more pragmatically. ( perhaps
since ive just become a dad..our PRESENT reality just got way way bigger)

I'd rather hear 2-yrs from now about a new unlimited energy source with 0
emissions than us landing on Jupiter's moon.

"Jesus is coming..look busy people".

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visakanv
Congrats on becoming a dad!

I'm totally with you on energy sources. We need advancements, pronto. It's
happening, but it could come sooner.

That said, I don't know about trying to force/cajole scientists to doing what
we think is best... it might really just be best for everyone to do what
they're most passionate about. I'm not sure.

I'm sure there are others who have thought very deeply about how to allocate
humanity's limited resources... I'm often thinking that we need a bigger
scientific community ASAP

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visakanv
The word-nerd in me can't help but be amused at the use of "set its sights" on
something that technically can't be seen. I wonder if it was intended.
Probably not.

