The LHC, Black Holes, and the Law

KentuckyFC writes "Now that the physicists have had their say over the safety of the Large Hadron Collider, a law professor has produced a comprehensive legal study addressing the legal issue that might arise were a court to deal with a request to halt a multi-billion-dollar particle-physics experiment (abstract). The legal issues make for startling reading. The analysis discusses the problem with expert witnesses, which is that any particle physicists would be afraid for their livelihoods and anybody else afraid for their lives. How can such evidence be relied upon? It examines the well established legal argument that death is not a redressable injury under American tort law, which could imply that the value in any cost-benefit analysis of the future of the Earth after it had been destroyed is zero (there would be nobody to compensate). It asks whether state-of-the-art theoretical physics is really able to say that the LHC is safe given that a scientific theory that seems unassailable in one era may seem naive in the next. But most worrying of all, it points out that the safety analyses so far have all been done by CERN itself. The question left open by the author is what verdict a court might reach."

Comments

We'll save the justice system first....

[LostCluster]

Of course, this is relevant because in the event of an LHC-created black hole destroying the planet, we will of course launch into space a "lifeboat" containing a judge, defense and plaintiff lawyers, Rusty the Bailiff to keep everyone in line, and one token normal person to be the plaintiff. Justice will be served no matter what the damage to the planet is.

Re:We'll save the justice system first....

[cthulu_mt]

So even if we blow up the planet we still won't have killed all the lawyers.

Shakespeare called and he doesn't like your scenario.

Re:We'll save the justice system first....

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Fast enough for ya?

Re:We'll save the justice system first....

[genner]

Actually, in the original context , that "kill all the lawyers" line is in praise of lawyers, for they are obstacles to a tyrant's plans.

No it was a praise to tyrant's since they kill lawyers. .

Re:We'll save the justice system first....

[fractoid]

Shakespeare called and he doesn't like your scenario.

Shakespeare? I believe it was Ripley that said things about "from orbit" and "to be sure". Although she was talking about something a lot easier to eradicate than lawyers...

Re:We'll save the justice system first....

[gmhowell]

How fast will this lifeboat be traveling? If this lifeboat is to be escaping a black hole.. it'd have to be moving pretty fast.

Is it an African lifeboat or a European lifeboat?

Re:oh well

[LostCluster]

We're past that climax... the answer's 42. Google it.

Sssh! We're ok as long as we don't ask..

[Exp315]

We're neither dead nor alive so long as nobody looks into this issue. :-)

Re:US LAW ?

[LostCluster]

I think CERN would be declared an Terrorist Organization and the scientists individually deemed Enemy Combatants.

Re:Ugh

[causality]

Previous scientific theories weren't proven wrong, just incomplete, as has been said thousands upon thousands of time.

So, care to calculate some epicycles for us?

Re:Read the disclaimer

[LostCluster]

If we don't agree to the shrinkwrap terms, can we take the LHC back to the point of purchase for a full refund?

Re:Read the disclaimer

[MichaelSmith]

As long as Magrathea has a backup I say we go for it.

Schrodinger's Attorney?

[gyrogeerloose]

I know there's a joke in there somewhere, I just can't quite figure it out.

Re:Schrodinger's Attorney?

[grcumb]

I know there's a joke in there somewhere, I just can't quite figure it out.

Not Schrodinger's Attorney. Maxwell's DA.

See, when you make humourous reference to Maxwell, the joke and the punchline are effortlessly sorted into the right order. With Schrodinger jokes, on the other hand, you never know whether it's going to be funny or not until you tell it, and by then it's too late.

Re:US LAW ?

[msimm]

Yes but it's important and THAT makes it American! ;-)

Re:Interesting and sobering.

[neiras]

There's plenty of scientists who can discuss these topics rationally and humbly, they just make for really boring television.

The LHC webcams, on the other hand, make for really panic-inducing television.

Redundant

[XanC]

I think that "Redundant" mod refers to your use of "cockroaches" and "lawyers" as separate.

Re:US LAW ?

[Arthur Grumbine]

...its in the France-Switzerland border...

Whoa there bucko. Sweden is next to France?!

I bet I can guess what country you're from.

Re:STFU

[Aceticon]

It's not hubris, it's simple probability. The energy levels of the LHC are not that impressive, they are just several times greater than we have ever before produced in a controlled lab environment. The LHC is only rated for operation at 14TeV (1.4e13), while the highest energy cosmic rays recorded are on the order of 100EeV (1e20). If these particles have hit Earth at sufficient frequency that we have detected them on several occurrences, and we haven't yet collapsed into a black hole, what are the chances that the LHC will do so?

but ... but ... but ... the LHC is on the French-Swiss border: that must affect the laws of physics somehow ...

Re:US LAW ?

[Le Tmraire]

Yes, and Australia is on the other side.