The most dangerous assumption
"Nothing is so dangerous to the progress of the human mind than to assume that our views of science are ultimate. That there are no mysteries in nature, that our triumphs are complete, and that there are no new worlds to conquer" -- Humphrey Davy
Brian Cox finishes his brief talk on the LHC at this years TED with this quote. If you wonder what this LHC (The Large Hadron Collider) is, listen to this rap song, or visit its homepage at CERN.
This LHC is quite a fantastic adventure the world's scientists have embarked upon. It is huge, and there was a huge enthusiasm among almost everyone at the academia, especially in Europe and especially in Switzerland before the start of the tests. I was in Zurich last fall when the first tests were scheduled and when it had to be shut down due to the defects. I could feel the excitement in the air before the initial tests, and the disappointment after the defects were found. I hope that they would get it working soon. Not that I suspect a breakthrough to come out of the studies on the tests, but the mere fact that such a huge scientific project was put together with the collaboration of so many nations and so many scientists, and the huge budget that was allocated to prepare the technology that was required to build and maintain such a thing, is already a breakthrough.
