Galt's Gulch

Higgs Boson?

Posted by Madbrain 13 years, 9 months ago to Science
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Does anyone here have any skepticism about the existence of the Higgs Boson, given the unique perspective that Objectivism gives to the meaning of Science? I am quite sure that they have not found it.

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  • Posted by flanap 13 years, 5 months ago
    Perhaps someone should either link to or define the concept of the Higgs Boson particle, so we are all working from the same concept.
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    • Posted by khalling 13 years, 5 months ago
      flanap, here is a link. Right now, people are saying it's the most important scientific find of 2012.
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-enviro...
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      • Posted by flanap 13 years, 5 months ago
        Ok after a quick read, it appears to me they call this the "God particle" because it would help physicists understand how mass is created for particles? So if mass seems to be created by an unseen force, then it would appear that something or...someone...is directing it, especially when it results in what we would call...order.

        Thoughts?
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        • Posted by khalling 13 years, 5 months ago
          Matter isn't created by something unseen. It is energy.Many things become ordered as they lose energy. For instance, ice crystals. These patterns occur because its at its lowest energy state. "someone" not required. I suggest getting a college level physics course on tape. Check out the Great Courses series. They aren't a full class, but it's a god place to start.
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  • Posted by fivedollargold 13 years, 5 months ago
    Finding evidence of a particle predicted by quantum theory is cool, if accurate. Nevertheless, there are many cosmological questions that may never be answered. Here are a few. (1) If matter of a given mass and density must collapse into a black hole, then why did the universe explode in a Big Bang in the first place? (2) What happened before the Big Bang? (3) What is the composition of dark matter? (4) What particle, if any, carries dark energy? Gravitation? And (5) What happens after proton-decay?
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    • Posted by khalling 13 years, 5 months ago
      What physicists LOVE is that there still questions unanswered. Have you read Michio Kaku's "Beyond Einstein?" "Physics of the Impossible" is also fun and frames up arguments to your questions above. Also, he is a dynamic speaker. On YouTube you can find many of his full length lectures.
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  • Posted by Nietzsche 13 years, 9 months ago
    I am skeptical about anything I have not experienced myself. (Sometimes I am even skeptical about things I have experienced.) Ayn Rand believed that knowledge could only be found through reason. She believed that existence is a matter of perception.

    The particle has been observed/ measured in repeated experiments. If it can be observed, is it not real?

    This may fill in a blank in particle physics to confirm a mathematical theory about the nature of mass as an interaction to a field, but it still doesn't explain the origin of the field itself.

    We know that we can never figure out everything, but I am greatly entertained by how far we keep pushing our knowlege of the physics of existence.
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    • Posted by flanap 13 years, 5 months ago
      Question, based on your paraphrasing Ms. Rand that she believed existence is a matter of perception (assuming that perception's conclusions are reasoned in line with her philosophy)...if I don't perceive you exist, can you exist? Can any one person perceive for another? Is existence capricious?
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    • Posted by Madbrain 13 years, 9 months ago
      Has the Higgs been observed? Read the literature carefully. The only thing Physicists are sure is that they found a new particle whose mass is 125GeV. That is all.
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