I was reading in the latest issue of Time Magazine (before my subscription thankfully expires) about the ecstatic theorists and experimentalists who finally have (almost) proved the existence of the Higgs boson – the elusive particle which “gives” mass to the other particles.
I worked briefly on the Bevatron at Berkeley which had been a step up from the Fermi accelerator at Chicago. Then there was the Stanford two mile long linear accelerator and a couple more giants leading to the Hadron.
How many billions? (dollars, not electron volts)
What will be the benefits?
Why do I keep remembering J. R. Oppenheimer’s remark as they were about to set off the first atomic bomb at White Sands, New Mexico:
“I don’t think it will set off a chain reaction in the atmosphere.”
Why does the “Tower of Babel” story keep shouting in my subconscious?
They studied radioactivity and came up with the Hydrogen Bomb.
They improved insecticides and we’re still trying to find out why the bees are disappearing.
They improved fertilizers and herds of cows are going belly up.
They studied genetics and are about to produce genetically engineered children and animals.
Now the Hadron’s proton collisions produce energies equivalent (in miniature) to the Big Bang.
Perhaps our brilliant scientists will create an improved universe (as long as they haven’t overlooked some small details).
It might be wise to do some patent research before proceeding. Don’t want to get in a lawsuit with the original Universe Corporation. They probably have some awesome lawyers. They might sentence repeat patent violators to confinement in a black hole.
Am I being too harsh? Dismissive?….?
Well, it’s a language they understand – they use it all the time on anyone who mentions Creation or Religion. I figure if I use it on them, it may wound them a little, and get my point across.
Holy Spirit speaking:
“Now wait a minute, Armond. You once were there. Remember you and your friend Spike and the TWO MAN SLINGSHOT and the window in Jamaica High School two blocks away? How about a little more compassion?”
You got me! Same mentality. More power!
Alright! Listen you scientists. Let’s try a little thought experiment.
Take a girl. Give her a beautiful face, lovely hair and a shapely body. Now radiate her with the current fare on TV, fashion magazines and provide her with revealing bathing suits and clothing, high salaries for using her gifts to promote today’s “culture”.
What do you expect the final “readings” will be when you measure her “happiness index” at the age of 55?
Now perform the same thought experiment on a young man. Give him a brilliant mind, associate him with a group of similarly endowed men (and women), with the possibility for world recognition, prizes, large salaries, freedom from oppressive moral standards, etc., where the predominant attitude is that “If you can’t measure it with some kind of a meter, it doesn’t exist.”
You’ve got the point! Without some kind of Divine Intervention, both of these poor individuals are going to end up on the scrap heap of people with withered souls.
I would have been there if I had been gifted with another 25 % in the brain power department. It took my designer 45 years to divert me from that heap.
Take a week off. Go rent a cabin in some nice park (that they haven’t closed yet). Smell the flowers, read a simple description about the discoveries in DNA, and try to imagine how evolution could have come up with those four billion codes in every cell in your body, by occasional “accidents”. Try on the idea that you are a precious one-of-a-kind creation. See if it fits comfortably.
Hope I wasn’t too rough with you.