It's a mystery to me. Could someone, please, explain the Higgs boson thing that the BBC are talking about?
It seems the race is on between the Cern's Large Hadron Collider and the American Fermilab to find the so-called God particle. It would appear the Americans have improved their odds from 50-50 to as much as 96% now. Just how do they work out this figure? 50-50 I get; there are only two runners in the race, but 96?
The wonderful line, which I loved, in the BBC report reads:
The particle, whose existence has been predicted by theoreticians, would help to explain why matter has mass.
Can we assume, then, that whatever this Higgs thing is, it will have the ability to explain to us WHY matter has mass? And is this mass like we who go to church have mass? If it is, then I think we might be able to rally and save a lot of money looking for the God particle since most of us know it's already on the altar. Further more, could we not talk of he rather than it, since God is whole and complete in himself?
Forgive me, if these comments seem irreverent, but I do wish the BBC would be clear in saying that the scientists will be discovering how, and not why.
I beleive the "god" particle is just a nickname because it is beleived to, as you say, answer a lot of questions about mass of the space of the universe, but could also throw up even more. I think the whole point of referring to god as "he" rather than "it" is quite finicky considering it is purely a figment of our imagination?
ReplyDeleteThere is a new Theory of Everything Breakthrough please see: Theory of Super Relativity at http:\\www.superrelativity.org
ReplyDeleteRich, interesting views. If God is just a figment of our imagination, does this mean the "god" particle is also a figment of our imagination? I'd take the view that we nickname this particle, God, because we think it will point toward why things happen; in this case, creation. Science cannot answer the why things happen, only the how, which in turn leads us to consider why. Even helps us to understand why, so science is a very good thing.
ReplyDeleteI refer to God as He because we have a relationship with someone, not something. Like my father is in relation to me, but is a person, I call him, him. I don't refer to the relationship as an it. Does that make sense? Thanks for your comment though.
mmfiore, thannks for the tip - I'll go look at the site.