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It is depressing to see the disparaging remarks about efforts in research. The comments here are often along the lines of "It's all about the money..." "They are just trying to disprove God..." "This is meaningless and has no value..."

Sub-Atomic Particles, Feh?

Perhaps the posters here should take a moment to reflect that they are using machines powered, controlled and networked by the movement of sub-atomic electrons. Seems pretty useful to me, I make a living with them.

Anyone out there been sick or injured? Ever have a PET Scan? PET. An acronym for POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY. That's right, that's ANTI-MATTER used in medical scans. Seems pretty useful to me.

We get these cool things by exploring the physical world, looking for things to exploit. People here deride looking for the Higgs Boson because of an apparently offensive nickname that has stuck: "The God Particle". The Higgs is proposed as the "Mass Carrier" of the universe, exerting its influence in the "Higgs Field". This is analogous to the Electron being the carrier of the electromagnetic force, operating in the magnetic field. Using the electron to manipulate magnetic fields enables AMAZING devices, from Motors to transmitters and on and on.

Imagine being able to use the Higgs Boson to manipulate the field that bestows MASS on matter. Imagine "floating cars" or spaceships without inertia, or a hundred other things my brain is too feeble to conceive.

Is this even possible? I don't know, but I DO KNOW that it will BE IMPOSSIBLE if we STOP LOOKING.

Amen, brother!

We should fund all this stuff, keep searching for the why’s and wherefore’s (yes, I know ‘apostrophes don’t denote a plural, but it looks good here!) and amazing things will spring forth, as they always have.

I still look back in sorrow at the idiotic decision to defund the Texas super-collidor.