Scientists Discover That If You Slam Members of Congress(Good Read)

ESPN.com ^ | Gregg Easterbrook

[curtisgardner]

Full Title: Scientists Discover That If You Slam Members of Congress Together Under Pressure, Money Is Released

[tet68]

I had one of those Higgs Bison steaks at ted Turners the other night , it was great, and it only cost three million dollars.

[fremont_steve]

Interesting that this article critical of fundamental science funding was published on ESPN - the network for jocks?

[newguy357]

It is certainly valid to argue against such projects based on role-of-government issues, but as soon as the author wrote:

Assume the Big Bang was how it all began. During this event, vast amounts of matter and radiation materialized from nowhere, the light-speed barrier was broken, space became curved, matter-antimatter annihilation destroyed millions of times the mass of the present universe, and other fairly wild stuff happened. A localized Big Bang Lite caused by a particle accelerator is unlikely, but why are we going out of our way to engage the risk?

and

...physicists privately are hoping the new ultraexpensive atom smashers won't find the ultimate elementary particle, the very thing they are designed to find. Wait -- they are hoping the $30 billion worth of projects will fail? Here's the reasoning: If the machines actually do discover what causes matter, how will science lobbyists justify billions more euros and dollars for additional atom-smasher subsidies in the future?

he became merely a delusional idiot.

[LenS]

"But realistically, who's going to read an entire book in a computer browser pane?"

I've read a lot of books on my hi-def 24" LCD monitor. I use really large print so I can sit back. And judging by Baen books, a lot of people are using their free library and/or buying electronic versions of various new books. Plus, Sony's got their book reader and Amazon's got a new one coming out.

[ari-freedom]

well regarding the second comment, when a government program works it means it deserves more money because it was successful and we need to invest in success. If the government program does not work then it means that obviously we need more money because it was underfunded.

[G8 Diplomat]

Scientists Discover That If You Slam Members of Congress

....your blood pressure goes down dramatically

[LenS]

Yes, that was a stupid thought. While liberal arts professors make their bones writing about nothing, engineers and scientists get their prestige and earnings from actually doing something. Find nothing and they’ll generally find their funding going bye-bye (ethanol excepted).

Besides, a $15 billion accelerator has a much greater chance of producing benefits than a $15 billion road project in downtown Boston.

[VOA]

It sounds like ESPN.com is just one venue for Mr. Easterbrook.
And that, as for science programs, he gained some reknown for drubbing
the Shuttle Program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Easterbrook

[Robert A Cook PE]

I would definitely “quibble” with him for funding - but NOT because tracking down the Higgs bosun is particularly important.

The technology we needed (still need!) for the super collider project - canceled by Clinton because it was going to be built in Bush’s Texas! - is the business and engineering of superconductors, ultra-high-speed control of physics particle packages at ultra-high speeds in magnetic fields, high-density superconducting magnetic containments, magnetic bottles, super-conducting fluids and low temperature engineering ...

Everything, in short, needed for a fusion power plant.

[Robert A Cook PE]

The annual budget for a collider is just about the same as for a large (government-funded-liberal-artsy) symphony, or opera, or arts museum.....

Construction funding is higher, but more people get something from the collider, on a per-person basis, if you consider the 2nd & 3rd tier results.

[Hank Kerchief]

Since he was quoting Science magazine, "physicists privately are hoping the new ultraexpensive atom smashers won't find the ultimate elementary particle," you must think all the scientist that magazine represents are "delusional idiots," as well.

You might be right, actually, since science has stopped doing science and has resorted to promoting some sort of "scientific agenda" which persecutes anyone who attempts to question it. Think global warming, psychology, evolution, etc. etc. etc. (I'm an atheist, by the way. I do not believe in intelligent design--to much of it is absurd to be intelligent--nor in any current explanation of evolution, which is equally absurd, and totally with evidence.)

Hank

[ari-freedom]

if they don’t find anything they’ll still get funding from the govt or a grant from govt subsidized universities. That’s why you have tenured liberal arts professors in the first place.

[Calvin Locke]

I read entire books on my Palm (gutenberg.org).

I heard a quote attributed to Oppenheimer. In a handful of years, they discovered about 150 particles. Oppenheimer said "...the Nobel physics prize should go to the physicist that did not discover a new particle."

So Easterbrook thinks they're on the verge of running out of particles?

In regular matter? How about "dark matter"? Opens up all sorts of new areas to explore.

[VRW Conspirator]

Everything, in short, needed for a fusion power plant.

Oh, yeah! Tokamak anyone? Did I spell that right? It's been so long, ya know. Indeed, it has been a long time since I heard, "...in the next ten years, we'll have fusion power..." yawn

[Physicist]

Wow. Just...wow.

I've seen the deeply ignorant. I've seen the aggressively ignorant (they tend to spout creationism on FR). But not often have I seen the viciously ignorant.

I could deconstruct this article line-by-line--almost every sentence is flatly wrong--but my time would be better spent writing up last night's Eagles game, since ESPN has seen fit to write this instead.

Instead, I'll just point out that when I left physics for programming, my salary doubled, and the work was a hell of a lot easier. Physicists make real sacrifices to do physics. This talk about how physics research is mere "featherbedding" is simply intellectual class warfare.

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[tbw2]

And the gamma knife research that resulted is a benefit that many cancer patients see.

[sarasmom]

Deconstruct it!
I dare you.
When you have time...LOL!