Scientific progress is rarely useless


I am mightily impressed with the Large Hadron Collider. To build such a complex mechanical machine that stretches for miles and to turn it on and have it work boggles my mind. Sometimes I despair at the human race and sometimes I am overjoyed. This is an instance of the latter.

I asked a workmate about it and he sniffed and said something to the effect of it being a “waste of money” that would be better spend on “humanitarian efforts”. Here’s the deal. If we balked at scientific progress that didn’t seem to have an on-the-face-of-it practical application then I don’t think we would have a world close to what we have today.

The word “science” comes from “knowledge” or “to know”. Progress that may seem useful may turnout to be very useful indeed. Computers operate on the principles of solid state physics. Would the pioneers of that field have predicted computers and the way that they have changed the world?

Nothing helps cure misery and elevates human problems than science and technology. This is why I hate creationism so much because they invariably spit on this beautiful methodology. The scientific method is the greatest human creation ever.

Speaking of which:

Listen to this podcast for good info on the LHC.

http://www.theskepticsguide.org/skepticsguide/podcastinfo.asp?pid=164

The "big picture" feature has some great pictures of this human achievement:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/the_large_hadron_collider.html




Posted under: Skepticism, Science
Posted on: Sunday, September 14, 2008 1:37 AM
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The umbrella in particular is remembered as the symbol of the nineteenth century’s disturbing obsession with individualism. In Bellamy’s utopia, umbrellas have been replaced with retractable canopies so that everyone is protected from the rain equally.
“In the nineteenth century,” explains a character, “when it rained, the people of Boston put up three hundred thousand umbrellas over as many heads, and in the twentieth century they put up one umbrella over all the heads.”