Tiny Black Holes Could Trigger Collapse of Universe—Except That They Don't

sciencehabit writes: If you like classic two-for-one monster movies such as King Kong vs. Godzilla, then a new paper combining two bêtes noires of pseudoscientific scaremongers—mini black holes and the collapse of the vacuum—may appeal to you. Physicists working with the world's biggest atom-smasher—Europe's Large Hadron Collider (LHC)—have had to reassure the public that, even if they can make them, mini black holes, infinitesimal version of the ones that form when jumbo stars implode, won't consume the planet. They've also had to dispel fears that blasting out a particle called the Higgs boson will cause the vacuum of empty space to collapse. Now, however, three theorists calculate that in a chain reaction, a mini black hole could trigger such collapse after all.

Comments

Re: Tiny black holes

[ScentCone]

I'm pretty sure that's not what he's trying to say. But if that's your take on it, why are putting words in the mouth of a god that also sees to it that small, innocent children die in agony of cancer? Are you a paid representative working on a spin campaign, or just a fantasist?

On the other hand, maybe you're a satirist, making fun of the GP, who has put forth a commonly proposed explanation for the non-apocalyptic nature of putative mini-black-holes. His embrace of that explanation isn't the least bit like assigning a personality to a fabricated, omniscient, all-powerful (and therefore unspeakably cruel) imaginary friend/god and then making up reports of what that imaginary being thinks and wants. So regardless of how serious or satirical you're being, bad show.

Re: Tiny black holes

[jcadam]

Wow. Lighten up, Francis.

Re: Tiny black holes

[ScentCone]

You saw the word "God"

What? That's the classic, repeated here a million times, "If you're willing to "believe" in [string theory/black hole evaporation/dark matter/whatever], that's the same as invoking God" meme. It's a meta-rant, all wrapped up in a succinct little code phrase. THAT was the off-topic bit. Pointing out that it's BS isn't off-topic, it's calling it what it is.