Stephen Hawking: Research on the ‘God particle’ could cause space-time to collapse

a reply to: cj6

Scientific theory =/= laymen theory.

originally posted by: AlephBet
a reply to: olaru12

Quantum tunneling borrows from the future.

No it doesn't.

originally posted by: GetHyped

originally posted by: AlephBet
a reply to: olaru12

Quantum tunneling borrows from the future.

No it doesn't.

Yes. It does. Just as I describe.

"Even a vacuum is full of activity and is not exactly empty. Energy is borrowed from the future to create a matter particle and antimatter particle, which collide in a process called pair annihilation to form energy again (through e=mc2), returning the energy borrowed. A vacuum can be said to contain matter and antimatter particles which are constantly created and destroyed all the time."
Link

In the quantum vacuum, just as Hawking describes.

Link

I'm waiting for the space-time continuum to collapse, then.
Thankfully it will happen before I pay my taxes this month, thank you very much.

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: SpongeBeard
a reply to: olaru12

No God is being referenced. God particle refers to the Higgs Boson, a particle with the ability to endow mass. Without it the Universe as we know it would not exist.

Then Higgs Boson particle; with our existence in the palm of his hand has taken over the reins of God? Sorry about the mixed metaphors.

In order to have taken over the "reins of God" there would have to be a God. Someone already explained what is meant by the "God particle" and it has zero to do with a supernatural deity.

originally posted by: fartsmeller46
a reply to: Bone75

No offense but I think that although he is a brilliant man,Stephen Hawking is way overrated in his field.But because of his disability he gets way more credit than he deserves and gets a free pass everytime he`s shown to be wrong.He`s admitted his theory of everything is flawed, now says black holes can`t exist and apparently thinks the Hadron collider is capable of starting a chain reaction that could suck up the universe.(not possible with the current power output,would require much more power for this to even be possible) They should name a dish after him at the Waffle House. As stated before he is a brilliant scientist but there are several men behind the scenes that are smarter and whose advice i would take before Hawkins.

I'm curious as to how you determine who is smarter than Stephen Hawking? Unless you're at or near the intellectual level of these people, yourself, it would seem to be difficult to determine. Do you simply mean that you find the theories of some others more appealing to you?

originally posted by: GetHyped

originally posted by: AlephBet
a reply to: olaru12

Quantum tunneling borrows from the future.

No it doesn't.

Don't forget that Stephen Hawking is the one that said himself that nature prevents the creation of black holes due to quantum tunneling through strong gravitational barriers. What he is proposing now is that mankind may collapse the vacuum with sufficient energy. As always, this is theoretical from the standpoint of having to create a "whole new field of physics." In other words, he is speaking theoretically, only if this new field of physics were true. Of course, they have yet to find the key to their current theory. I have suggestions for them. The key is the third aspect of light. All quantities in the universe act in threes. Light is more than wave and particle. Once they get this, they will see the rest.

Not to worry though: "Professor Hawking, however, suggests there is little danger to humanity or the universe yet — because the power of even the biggest planned machines is so far below what theory predicts would be needed to destabilise the Higgs field."

a reply to: olaru12
Has not happened yet and our universe is doing just fine. One would think some other civilisation on the past would have destroyed our verse with there own version of partical accelerators long, long ago if this was indeed the case.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: olaru12
Has not happened yet and our universe is doing just fine. One would think some other past civilisation would have destroyed our verse with there own version of partical accelerators long, long ago if this was indeed the case.

So, if I understand correctly, Hawking first warns about possible collapse and then himself admits that research done in this matter shows that such occurrence is impossible now and won't be possible in teh near future. It's all theoretical and fun.

Basically, a catchy title for an article.

I feel cheated, because here I was hoping for the collapse (and possible explosion) of the known universe and end of taxes, receipts and insurances. Now I know that since the God particle is safe (for now, unless some aliens decide to blow up the universe in their relentless pursuit of knowledge), no such thing will happen. Governments, rejoice! Revenue services, rejoice!

Professor Hawking, please theorize about more earthly concerns next time. Like how to force the matter that the banknotes are amde of to multiply itself, likely infinitely.

a reply to: Bassago

I have to admit I worried about it at first, but it does seem like small potatoes considering the vastness of the universe,perhaps it could influence some small area, I have no clue, obviously.

a reply to: olaru12

That might not be a bad plan A...screw B and C and Agenda 21. We need to get at the very root of the problem.

“The Higgs potential has the worrisome feature that it might become metastable at energies above 100bn gigaelectronvolts,” Hawking writes. “This could mean that the universe could undergo catastrophic vacuum decay, with a bubble of the true vacuum expanding at the speed of light.”

Many in the scientific community are upset with Hawking — not because he is incorrect, but because such statements from a scientist of his eminence could dissuade the public from funding experiments like those at Cern in the future.

originally posted by: Flint2011
a reply to: olaru12

Amazing. I am a complete novice with regard to this stuff and even I foresaw the potential for this to be a possible concern. I mean this thing was what is believed to have started it all and they think they can control it?

No guts no glory.

originally posted by: GetHyped
a reply to: rickymouse

Lol! If you're looking to make $$$, don't go into particle physics!

Anyway, back on topic:

In his preface, Hawking stresses that the possibility of the Higgs boson behaving in such a way is highly unlikely — and that creating the conditions in which the particle would is impossible given the current state of technological development.

^this is the important takeaway, not the over-sensationalized headline.

What kind of work would they be doing if there were a lot less jobs? Washing dishes at Big Boy restaurant? There are a lot of particles in the dishwater.

I'm sure they make more than a school teacher there, unless of course the teacher is a coach of the football team in college.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: olaru12
Has not happened yet and our universe is doing just fine. One would think some other civilisation on the past would have destroyed our verse with there own version of partical accelerators long, long ago if this was indeed the case.

which could mean one or two things:

we are probably the most advance beings in the universe (looking at the world this is worrisome) or,

theres some sort of force or organisation which magically appears to stop it before it happens.

a reply to: olaru12

Seems to be the same stuff that was said about airplane flight:

Comment in the New York Times one week before the successful flight of the Kitty Hawk by the Wright brothers:

"...We hope that Professor Langley will not put his substantial greatness as a scientist in further peril by continuing to waste his time and the money involved, in further airship experiments. Life is short, and he is capable of services to humanity incomparably greater than can be expected to result from trying to fly....For students and investigators of the Langley type there are more useful employments."

Source: New York Times, December 10,1903, editorial page.

…Or possibly automobiles:

The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.”

— The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s lawyer, Horace Rackham, not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903

…AC power:

Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.

— Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1889 (Edison often ridiculed the arguments of competitor George Westinghouse for AC power).

…Trains:

Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.

— Dr Dionysys Larder (1793-1859), professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College London.

…and now we have the next great thinker that people listen to when they do not know where to go for their own ideas or imagination….

The show goes on….

originally posted by: Bassago
a reply to: olaru12

Fabulous, so Stephen Hawking is now writing doom porn about how a tiny little species of hairy bipeds out in a remote corner of the Milky Way is going to destroy the entire universe.

That's just great.

I don't believe it though or at least hope not.

I see his hypothesis as non-probable as well. Consider that is 14 billion years, many intelligent species must have arisen and exceeded or collective knowledge by many orders of magnitude. They would have built similar machines and they didn't destroy the universe.

Or did they and this is just a virtual reality wrapped up inside a singularity?

Cheers - Dave

The first line in your response was priceless! Star and Flag! I want to make a poster out of that sentence! ROFLMAO! a reply to: rickymouse

a reply to: olaru12

This makes an excellent replacement for nuclear threat. Lets make a God Particle Bomb - with the ability to destroy not only our planet but also the known universe!