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Why Were So Many "Crazy" Higgs Boson Stories Published?
The presumed discovery of the Higgs boson may be one of the most important scientific discoveries ever, but it did bring out quite a bit of "strange" science reporting. In addition to blogs, many mainstream news sites jumped on the crazy headline bandwagon. The ability to soon travel at the speed of light, the building of a Star Trek style transporter, and many stories of the particle proving God doesn't exist have made the rounds in the past week. Is the particle's discovery just on the fringe of common scientific knowledge and therefore prone to wild speculation, or does this all come down to having the most sensational headline?
The exact same reasons we read headlines about creating universe eating black holes when the thing started up.. about global pandemics that are going to wipe us all out.. about “Africanized” bees. It gets eyeball time, which is what it’s all about.
“A long held theory has been possibly confirmed”
Vs.
“THE FUTURE IS HERE, LIVE LIKE THE JETSONS IN 5 YEARS!”
One of those is going to sell a _lot_ more toothpaste.
Calling Higgs boson "The God Particle" is probably the greatest marketing decision in the history of science.
When it comes to quantum physics, almost everyone is a moron.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/q-and-a-the-higgs-boson-and-you.html
Don't even try to read the rest of it, unless you like wasting your time.
Based on this famous quote:
“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
That would put this sort of annoying Higgs boson chatter squarely in the realm of average minds.
They can usually come up with something good to say about events most of us understand. But they can't understand the Higgs boson. Doesn't matter: the media is all about generating copy, this is the highest imperative. Making sense is secondary. And so not understanding doesn't prevent them from trying to say something. Nor should it, according to the logic of their profession, since the logic of their profession says the editorial has to be filed on time, the column must fit so many square inches of space, the front page must have timely links about today's news.
And so they all come up with this WHARRGARBL like the NY Times story above. Welcome to the media industry.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I wanted to be a theoretical physicist when I grew up (oh, childhood dreams) and I've got an above average understanding of particle physics just from my general fascination with the subject. Even I have a tough time grasping the nitty gritty details of the Higgs field. The sensationalism stems from 1. The general population not understanding particle physics and 2. The general population not understanding the nature of the announcement. The Higgs wasn't so much discovered as it was confirmed to be exactly where we expected it to be all along. No new technology will come out of this so much as our understanding of the universe has been strengthened considerably - we're on the right track with the Standard Model after all.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Journalism sucks. But let me qualify. Science journalism and journalism in general suck when they're written to beat the deadline in attempt to be "fresh" or "hot off the press" (conference). You can picture the reporter emailing his or her story to the editorial department and the editor, finding the report, a bit dull decides to sex it up just a little, adding "factoids" lifted from Google or Wikipedia (the two not being mutually exclusive) or making snappy generalizations that can reduce to two or three words WTF the whole event is about.
Let's be honest, which would you rather read: "God particle may explain creation" or "CERN scientists discover new subatomic particle"?
A common trick in newspaper headlines is to give off the impression of certainty where there is none. When you read something like "500 feared dead" the day after a disaster, you can be sure that the "500" is an approximation that most likely came from some random bloke or bureaucart.
Wait a few more weeks or months, and the science reporting will get more sober.
To be fair to our beloved Beeb, none of those links point to "hard news" pages. They're either from the magazine section (a bit like the op-ed section of a paper) or a "balanced" current affairs program where one uninformed talking head berates another one for 30 minutes and noone emerges from the program any the wiser.
Did you read the linked article? As a Christian, I rolled my eyes most at the BBC radio headline, "The Higgs boson is another nail in the coffin of religion." This seems like an equal opportunity attempt to offend. It attacks religion, but with an argument that is so stupid that it ought to offend atheists too who might be associated with such asininity. And this is the BBC who you think wouldn't do this kind of thing.
All of them..
Consistently..
Seriously what the hell is with that. Not that I'm complaining, but that can't just be a coincidence.