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Atom Smasher May Create "Black Saturns"
David Shiga writes "If we ever make black holes on Earth, they might be much stranger objects than the star-swallowing monsters known to exist in space. According to a new theory, any black hole that pops out of the Large Hadron Collider under construction in Switzerland might be surrounded by a black ring — forming a microscopic 'black Saturn'. This could happen if extra dimensions exist, as string theory suggests, and if they are large enough." An evocative excerpt from the article: "...there is an outside chance that in a few years in a tunnel near Geneva, physicists will make a black hole far smaller than a proton and circled by a squashed four-dimensional black doughnut."
I admire your confidence, considering the incompleteness of our species understanding of physics. But I think a lot of us would appreciate it if these experiments were conducted on SOME OTHER FREAKING PLANET considering that, if you're mistaken, WE'RE ALL GOING TO BE INFINITELY STRETCHED ALONG THE SCHWARZCHILD RADIUS OF A GODDAMNED SINGULARITY THAT WE CREATED.
Dan Simmons called this "The Big Mistake" (although later it was revealed that the AI's stole the Earth...)
You can have my SIG when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
Am I the only one concerned that making mini-black holes might suck in the whole earth? That they're trying this kind of stuff is pretty scary
Considering the scientists insisted that no such outcome was possible several years ago (while seeking funding), and the same scientists are now excitedly talking about the different exotic types of black holes, black saturns, etc. they're going to produce, you should be.
During the activation of the RHIC project, program managers laughed at the "absurd" idea that a black hole could be created in high-energy colliders. According to physicist Dmitri Kharzeev (of RHIC), "the risk of producing a real black hole in RHIC experiments is not higher than during our daily rides in elevators -- this danger simply does not exist."
Of course, now we find out that Kharzeev and his peers knew this was false all along and actually intend to produce them at higher energy levels now.
Unfortunately science is so far past the politicians that any effort to regulate their ethical misbehavior (an understatement in this case) is lost. It was one thing when they were hooking animal heads up to human bodies, subjecting humans to extreme cold until death, exposing prisoners to exotic diseases, performing bizarre and sickening operations on retarded children and other ethical problems that were identifiable by anyone with the smallest sense of empathy. But this kind of research is so exotic that no politician dares challenge it for fear of being made a fool of.
Perhaps the one answer these scientists will provide is that of the Drake Equation If civilizations can't manage the risk-seeking behavior of its scientists, it is certain to disappear.
First of all, they will dissipate almsot instantly due to Hawking radiation. Second of all, they are so tiny that they will rarely (if ever) get close enough to swallow something else.
Third of all: The kind of (and energy of) collision in question occurs with non-trivial frequency when cosmic rays hit atoms in the atmosphere. If it created a long-lived black hole that could suck down a planet in a geologically short time we would have been down the drain LONG ago.
Fourth of all, all of this is theoretical so far since we haven't done it. Maybe our models are all wrong and this will in fact create a black hole capable of consuming everything around it and eventually the Earth and solar system. Probably not, but you can't really rule anything out completely.
How we know is more important than what we know.