As I have spoken of before, the issue of energy and its sustainability is a prime concern of the American public and the world at-large. Although today's currently understood methods of sustainable energy are tantalizing, they are merely steps necessary to a better source of energy. These sources could provide energy for the time being, but as energy needs continue to grow-because of population expansion and advancement in technology that will require more power-these sources, as they currently stand, will not be able to suit us in the future. What we need is not solar, wind, geothermal or even fusion to power the future of the human race. What we need is a revolution in physics and society.
In May, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is set to go online. Using super-condensed magnets, the largest collider track ever built, and a whole host of extremely advanced systems of measurement, we're going to observe the collision of subatomic particles at a level of energy that has never been achieved. The beauty of all of this is that no one truly knows what's going to happen when we smash these subatomic particles at above 90 percent the speed of light. Not to mention that the LHC is the largest machine every built by humanity. There are speculations abound regarding the possible results of what could be the largest physics endeavor undertaken in our history. Some speculate that we'll continue to find smaller and smaller particles as we continue to smash smaller and smaller particles. Others say we could create a miniature black hole, which is exactly what some are looking for. Still others claim that we could create a large enough black hole to begin consuming the earth or cause an explosion that could wreak unimaginable and irreparable damage upon the planet. There was even a group of Russian mathematicians who suggested that we could open up the door to time travel through this experiment. Though some of these are much farther out than others, one thing is for sure: something interesting will happen.
Though I don't necessarily agree with the idea of smashing things together-I often use the analogy of a caveman smashing rocks together to create fire, which only seems to get worse the smaller the rocks are-I can completely understand the importance of such an endeavor. We could, for instance, validate parts of string theory taking us closer to a theory of everything and unifying gravity with the rest of the forces. Or, we could turn everything we know on its head, finding a new way of understanding the universe and, at the same time, have a new path to pursue in research.
Where this and energy come together is in the better understanding of the fabric of space and time. As I had stated, our energy security won't simply come from renewable sources that we currently understand, but a revolution in the understanding of the universe that will allow us to tap into functions of energy we had never previously known. It is endeavors along this vein that will help us to secure a better today, and a better tomorrow. Though these experiments are expensive, think about how much money we spend on things that have absolutely no use or value in our existence. All the money we spend on mass entertainment, on our wars for imagining the separation of peoples, on materialism and social identity. All of the resources we use to stroke our egos. I know that I rant on these things quite a bit, but we need to understand that our advancement in the future will not only come from science giving us a new view, but from us taking a new view of the world in order to understand the secrets staring us in the face. This Hadron Collider may give us such a view. It may give us a way to understand energy better. It may allow us to create a more efficient and sustainable society. What I hope it does, regardless of the results being good or bad, is to make us think about what is truly important.
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