Ok, let me see if I remember alla this without turning to wikipedia. So, you're aware that there's a certain amount of energy bound up in free space, yes? Even in the absence of any particle, the vacuum is practically boiling over with virtual particles, that sponaneously flicker in and out of existence in accordance with the rules of quantum mechanics. (Caveat - I'm not sure if this vacuum energy and the one I'm going to talk about next are equivalent. IANARealPhysicist.) Well, it's been theorized that, based on the way our universe expanded and sort of crystallized out shortly after its inception, the energy inherent in the vacuum is not as stable as it could be - there could be a lower-energy solution for it. Picture a small valley, running alongside the slope of a mountain, so that from the top of the mountain, you go down, into the valley, then up the wall of the valley, then continue down the slope to the plains down below. If the vacuum is false, that implies that the entire universe lies within the valley. All the energetic events that have ever occurred, occur within this valley. It's possible, though, that an event like an extraordinarily rare quantum fluctuation to a lower energy state could happen, at which point the bubble of lower-energy space would expand out at near light-speed, and leave the universe with potentially entirely different physical constants in its wake. It would mean the annihilation of the earth and we would never see it coming. One potential way for this to occur might be the creation of an energy of very high density - enough to jump completely over the wall of the valley, so to speak. Such energy densities, on Earth, can only be created within particle accelerators, which impart huge energies to very very tiny things. But! There are a lot of ifs, and there are a lot of very energetic particles out there from natural causes like that gamma-ray burster from last week. The likelihood is that, in the billions of years this galaxy has existed, it hasn't happened yet, and it most likely won't here. And if I'm wrong, we will never, ever know about it.
It's about time someone addressed this. Anyone who has seen Godzilla X Megaguirus knows that this type of threat is real. You don't want giant dragonfly whatsits zooming around, do you? DO YOU?!?!?
The EXISTENCE of this lawsuit sets a dangerous precedent. The respect that the general public has for the scientific community had been steadily eroding for the past ten years, and now the layperson is trying to tell scientists what they should and should not attempt to learn. I don't need to tell you how bad it would be if this becomes common.
If you ask me, it has everything to do with not enough explanations being given to the general public, which leads to fear as seen here. Maybe it would help if it got highlighted in newspapers and news broadcasts more, with quick, layman explanations given along with it. Cause right now, it's kinda limited to internet pages which are way to detailed, and the occassional documentary on Discovery and reports in science magazines.
The general public doesn't need to know the details. It's none of their damn concern. Time was the man in the street would just be thankful for what science has given him and leave the thinkers to do their jobs. Now it's God this and property values that and WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN?
Yeah, and this is the attitude that has helped to earn scientists that loss of respect. Looking down upon the common man and considering themselves elite, they have shot themselves in the foot. If science experiences a major downfall somewhere down the line, chances are hubris'll play a major role in it.
I'm one of dem der fancy scientist people and I hate trying to explain things to the general public. You can only dumb things down so much before they lose all meaning. To really understand most of this stuff takes a lot of hard work and smarts and no I cannot summarise a years work into one sentence. However, there is a concerning growing gap between the general public and the scientific community. The communication going on is total balls. Just look at this example, attitudes towards nuclear power, evolution etc.
Frequency standards / precision time keeping / low noise measurements. Similar things to what goes down at NIST.
I need to start working on the "END OF THE WORLD!" soundtrack, one qustion should gir's doom song be inclued or would 3 months of "doom doom doomdoomdoom" take to long.
