Posts Tagged ‘Danger’

Reason and Rhyme by JTankers

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

A bit of poetic partisan ranting before high energy collisions might begin in October…

is this wise, [17]
little white lies, [1][6][7][8]
one scientist cries, [3]
in time everyone dies,
but to win a Nobel prize… [6]

safety they tried to infer,
a disaster they tried to deter,
Wagner[5] and Sancho[1] and Plaga[4] and Rössler[2][3],
nobel their concerns were,
but their concerns CERN did spurn and slur[6]

risk CERN did censor,[1][7][9]
populace did get tenser,
holes blacker than crows? [2]
strange particle mass grows? [5]
earth to get much denser?

will black holes we bake? [10][11]
would strange matter break?
could possible harm they make? [12]
did Steven Hawking blunder? [2][14][15][16]
could Earth be taken under?
will our world they take?[13]

or just secrets of nature to tame,
no black holes to grow from flame?[19]
no strange matter condensing earth?
no unstoppable growth given birth?
or just no one left to blame?

law suits filed,[5]
scientists riled,[18]
collisions to begin,
nobel prizes to win,
god to have smiled? [17]
or earth to be defiled? [2]

Nuclear Safety Officer Walter L. Wagner seeks proof of safety[5], Dr. Otto Rössler seeks proper refutation of his concerns[2] and Dr. Habil. Rainer Plaga proposes feasible risk mitigation measures.[4]

[1] http://www.lhcdefense.org/pdf/Sancho%20v%20Doe%20-%20Affidavit%20of%20Luis%20Sancho.pdf AFFIDAVIT OF LUIS SANCHO IN UPPORT OF TRO AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION (2008)

[2] www.wissensnavigator.com/documents/OTTOROESSLERMINIBLACKHOLE.pdf Abraham-Solution to Schwarzschild Metric Implies That CERN Miniblack Holes Pose a Planetary Risk, Prof. Dr. Otto Rossler (2008)

[3] www.wissensnavigator.com/documents/spiritualottoeroessler.pdf A Rational and Moral and Spiritual Dilemma - Otto E. Rössler (2008)

[4] arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0808/0808.1415v1.pdf On the potential catastrophic risk from metastable quantum-black holes produced at particle colliders - Dr. Habil. Rainer Plaga Rebuttal (2008)

[5] www.lhcdefense.org/lhc_legal.php US Federal Lawsuit Filings - Walter L. Wagner (2008)

[6] www.lhcfacts.org/?p=72 CERN?s Dr. Ellis tells only half of the story - LHCFacts.org (2008)

[7] twomosquitoes.blogspot.com/2008/09/cern-wins-battle-at-wikipedia-lhc.html CERN wins battle at Wikipedia, LHC history scrubbed, TWO MOSQUITOES

[8] http://www.lhcfacts.org/?cat=44 Culture of Superiority? (June 1, 2008)

[9] http://www.lhcfacts.org/?cat=124 Wikipedia LHC Page is Being Altered by CERN (July 9, 2008)

[10] cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/29199 The case for mini black holes, CERN Courier (2004)

[11] http://www.photonics.com/content/news/2008/September/9/93181.aspx Threats Won’t Stop Collider, photonics.com (Sep 9, 2008)

[12] http://www.cambridgeblog.org/tag/shahn-majid/ Particle Accelerators, CERN, and Doomsday. Prof Shahn Majid (2008)

[13] http://www.reason.com/news/show/128492.html A 1-in-1,000 Chance of Götterdämmerung, Will European physicists destroy the world? Ronald Bailey | September 2, 2008

[14] xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/0304042 Do black holes radiate?. Dr. Adam Helfer (2003)

[15] arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0607137, On the existence of black hole evaporation yet again, Prof. VA Belinski (2006) [16] On the Stability of Black Holes at the LHC, M. D. Maia, E. M. Monte (19 Aug 2008)

[17] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4727894.ece Peter Higgs launches attack against Nobel rival Stephen Hawking, TimesOnLine (Sep 11, 2008)

[18] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/09/10/do1005.xml, We must be wary of scientific research, Gerald Warner Telegraph.co.uk, (10 Sep 2008)

[19] http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2631 On the Stability of Black Holes at the LHC, M. D. Maia, E. M. Monte (19 Aug 2008)

CERN’s Dr. Ellis tells only half of the story

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

On August 14th, CERN’s Dr. Jonathan Ellis presented safety arguments to CERN scientists in order that they may use this information to defend CERN. The video presentation is 73 minutes long and the mood of the scientists is serious and somber. http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1120625/

Dr. Ellis tells only half of the story unfortunately.

All of Dr. Ellis’s arguments are disputed, done best in papers by Professor Dr. Otto E. Rössler[2] and Dr. Rainer Plaga[3].

By far the worst argument is for Hawking Radiation, clearly fundamentally flawed conjecture. Did you see Dr. Ellis’s slide with the outlandish reference to reverse time travel? I did not see a reference to negative energy though. LOL (Laugh Out Loud, anti-matter falling into black holes adds energy to the black hole, no matter how clever the counter arguments are to try to correct Dr. Hawking’s more than 30 year old blunder). See the following for references to a few compelling papers that argue Hawking Radiation is flawed conjecture, black holes are neutral* and do not radiate: [4][5][6]*).

Dr. Michael E. Peskin argues that the micro black hole danger scenarios are plausible except that they are excluded by cosmic ray arguments[1], but he does not address compelling counter arguments by Dr. Plaga[2] and Dr. Rossler[3], summarized well by Dr. Plaga “Concluding, G & M have not demonstrated that white dwarfs stop cosmic-ray produced mBHs in general. Their exclusion of dangerous mBHs thus remains not definite.”

(For the record I do not find plausible the arguments that safety is sufficiently proven for micro black holes created at Large Hadron Collider energies, but the safety of micro black holes created by future higher energy colliders still requires confirmation. I was unable to reconcile this line of reasoning other than it may have been creative wording to disguise and minimize minority opposition concerns in the SPC report.)

The most disturbing statement of all was the stunningly arrogant prediction that safety will be proven when the Large Hadron Collider begins high energy collisions in a few weeks.

I suspect General Custer said something similar to re-assure his troops that he would defeat the American Indian’s at the Little Big Horn. General Custer was arrogant and ignorant, but his mistake had relatively limited consequences.

Dr. Ellis comments that Hawking Radiation is “just elementary quantum mechanics” and argues only that an extremely implausible CP violation result could allow failure. Learn about Bohmian (Einstein deterministic) Quantum theory[7] Dr. Ellis then decide which passes the Occam’s Razor test by an order of magnitude and decide how sure you are about “elementary quantum mechanics” before you arrogantly potentially risk the future of humanity and belittle the genius of Dr. Rössler and others in your rush to prove yourself correct. Reverse Hawking Radiation is a theory you should familiarize your self with, it is predicted by at least one speculative theory that I find compelling[8].

An open and independent safety conference as Dr. Rössler calls for is desperately needed before micro black hole creation energy thresholds might be exceeded. The response to petition Swiss President Pascal Couchepin not to meet with Dr. Rössler appears to follow the pattern that Dr. Rossler alleges in his blog[9] “I consider it very plausible that the [disinformation] policy of CERN’s has shielded the author from his field of research for the last 18 months

Heed the appeal for reasonable confirmation of safety arguments by an open and independent credible decision making process before collisions begin.

Sincerely, JTankers Founder and co-administrator of LHCFacts.org

  • Dr. Otto E. Rössler’s brilliant yet obvious re-interpretation[6] of General Relativity theory concludes that [the horizon of black holes is infinitely far in spacetime from the outside world and never quite finished].  Dr. Rossler calculates that Earth will be destroyed in 50 months to 50 years if micro black holes are created (micro black holes become charged by capturing charged particles outside the event horizon). Dr. Ellis arrogantly and ignorantly belittles “Mr. Rössler”. Inappropriate, unbecoming and utterly misguided.

[0] http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1120625/ The LHC is Safe - Dr. J Ellis

[1] http://physics.aps.org/articles/v1/14 The end of the world at the Large Hadron Collider? - Michael E. Peskin Paper, 8/18/2008

[2] http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0808/0808.1415v1.pdf On the potential catastrophic risk from metastable quantum-black holes produced at particle colliders - Rainer Plaga Rebuttal, 8/10/2008

[3] http://www.wissensnavigator.com/documents/spiritualottoeroessler.pdf A Rational and Moral and Spiritual Dilemma - Otto E. Rōssler Safety Counter Arguments

[4] http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0304042v1 Do black holes radiate? Do black holes radiate? - Adam D. Helfer Paper.

[5] http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0607137 On the existence of black hole evaporation yet again On the existence of black hole evaporation yet again - VA Belinski Paper.

[6] http://www.wissensnavigator.com/documents/OTTOROESSLERMINIBLACKHOLE.pdf Abraham-Solution to Schwarzschild Metric Implies That CERN Miniblack Holes Pose a Planetary Risk - Otto E. Rōssler Theory a

[7] http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19726485.700 Quantum randomness may not be random, New Scientist Magazine, March 22, 2008

[8] http://www.bigcrash.org “The Pre-Big Bang Universe Model”, open source physics project

[9] http://www.achtphasen.net/index.php/plasmaether/2008/08/21/on_the_splendid_article_by_michael_e_pes “On the Splendid Article by Michael E. Peskin” by Otto E. Rossler, August 21, 2008

Wikipedia LHC Page Is Being Altered By CERN

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

heck back soon for all the details of the ongoing war over the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LHC This article used to have a significant safety section.  But recently, safety was moved to it’s own article:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety of the Large_Hadron_Collider

Changes are now being made to delete key information even in the separate Safety article and a coordinated effort is underway to censor Jtankers and others who have been contributing editors for some time now.

-Another

The discussion below details an incident at Wikipedia. Recently I was blocked from adding references to the Wikipedia article “Safety of the Large Hadron Collider”, that challenged the probability that Hawking Radiation might cause micro black holes to evaporate. A CERN employee and Wikipedia administrator became annoyed with my efforts and reported my conduct to the Wikipedia Administrators’ Incidents board under the heading “LHC Fringe Theorists”.

At this same time, a notice was placed on my talk page that my talk page had been
nominated for deletion. I’m not sure what would happen if my talk page was deleted, as I don’t think this has ever been done to an active user before, but it may have left my account crippled in its ability to communicate.

After the two actions above, I stopped editing the Wikipedia article. If the intent was to silence me, they made some progress. The discussion below details what I believe is an attempt at censorship by persons with a clear conflict of interest IMHO (In My Humble Opinion).

Terms Used:
* COI: Conflict of Interest
* NPOV: Neutral Point of View
* DR: Dispute Resolution

- JTankers

Update… (July 14, 2008)

The Wikipedia article Safety of the Large Hadron Collider now contains a summary of some of the basic safety arguments of the organized safety opposition, after a long battle with CERN supporters to fight censorship of these concerns.

The concerns are not just from legal action and from what is raised in the media as the article still tends to imply. The safety concerns are lead by world recognized, credible scientists. Dr. Otto Rossler is an eminent award winning professor of theoretical sciences and a significant contributor to Chaos Theory. Professor Rossler’s research indicates that safety has not been reasonably proven, and danger is very plausible.

Published peer reviewed papers from science professors that question one of the of the primary safety arguments (Hawking Radiation) are still censored from the article. A 2004 Delphi study showing up to 50% doubt among physicists polled is still censored from the article. (Physicists do have reasonable doubt about Hawking Radiation, contrary to what the article implies).

From the Wikipedia article Safety of the Large Hadron Collider:

Concerns raised in the media

Nuclear physicist Walter L. Wagner has argued that if Micro black holes are produced at the LHC, they might not decay as predicted by CERN, since Hawking radiation is not an experimentally-tested or naturally observed phenomenon and might not exist.[8][22]

Professor Otto Rössler has stated that micro black holes created in the LHC would grow exponentially, accreting the Earth in 50 months to 50 years, and he has sought scientific debate on his research[23] before the LHC particle collisions begin.[24]

- JTankers
—-

Update June 20, 2008

What part is undue weight? This just feels like censorship of concerns from the general public and from credible PHD level scientists. The conflict of interest could not be more clear. I have nothing to gain that I do not share with the defendants (safety of Earth), CERN has potential Nobel prizes, future employment, fame and fortune, potentially at the cost of Earth 50 months to 50 years from now. The debate could not be more relevant now and could not affect more people. To bury the concerns another link level deeper would certainly be better than completely censoring the concerns, and I can accept the solution. But I think the undue weight is given to the concerns of CERN and they will not be satisfied until the article appears to suggest that there is no conceivable danger, when in fact safety arguments are no more substantial than unverified original research. CERN’s safety analysis is original research that has not been accepted by peer reviewed journal for publication, only approved by a 4/5 majority internal assessment which called some major argument unverified and peer review of the self published work is still in progress. A CERN employee editor has even had links to published peer reviewed papers that challenge the primary safety argument, the probability that Hawking Radiation exists removed against editor consensus. How can that be justified? According to Professor Dr. Otto Rössler the results of CERN’s actions could result in the greatest crime against humanity imaginable. Dr. Rossler is arguably among the world’s most eminent living contributors to theoretical sciences, a former university visiting professor of theoretical physics (a fact suspiciously removed from Dr. Rossler’s Wikipedia bio June 2, 2008 without prior discussion) and founded a new field of theoretical physics in collaboration with MIT Physics Professor David_Finkelstein who is historically significant for his contribution to black hole theory. The public and other scientists have the right to know that scientific consensus is credibly challenged by multiple credible PHD level theoretical scientists. More importantly, we deserve credible concerns to be addressed before collisions begin. Wikipedia should not be a public relation tool to influence public opinion and limit information to other physicists by censoring descent. This is a very significant issue.

Jtankers (talk) 16:58, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

—–

Administrators’ noticeboard/IncidentsArchive446

LHC fringe theorists

Hi, I’d appreciate another admins input on an article I’m involved in, hence I cannot take any actions. If you have 10 spare mins read through Talk:Safety of the Large Hadron Collider.

User:Jtankers is part of a fringe theory group on the web who believe that the LHC will possibly destroy the world. He’s continually adding original research links and adds material in a WP:ATT join the dots type of logic to make readers come to his conclusions. For 6 months we (myself and a number of other editors) have been trying to explain to him the meaning of reliably sourced and verifiable information. Yet he still continues to add his links and tries to sway the article to his own agenda. A quick google search of his name (James Tankersley) and a look at his user page shows his involvement in these fringe groups.

I myself work at CERN but have I believe at no time compromised my position either as an administrator or via COI by the fact I work at CERN. This can be seen on the talk page as well, when James made some unbased accusations and eventually he recalled them when pressed to show where I had abused my position.

Myself and a number of other editors have repeatedly try to explain to Jtankers why his links are not suitable, and have given him far more leeway than WP:FRINGE recommends. But all we have in return is alot of handwaving and how we are repressing him and the article is biased agianst his position. Though we have repeatedly explained to him the type of links he should find to promote his position, yet is unable to do so. We revert and he goes past 3RR, and we explain to him about 3RR and yet we are threatening him.

Yet the OR links keep coming, we keep trying to explain why they aren’t acceptable but it’s falling on deaf ears. You may also wish to read the LHC talk page as this is where it started before the subject matter was split away. Any help pointers etc would be appreciated. Khukri 17:25, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I got as far as where JTankers alleges a Vast ecritKabalConspir’cee to get him and his, and got sick of it. There are three regular editors there, WWheaton, Khukri, and Phenylalanine desperately trying for … over a week? to get this guy to pay attention. It’s a great deal of CIVIL POV PUSH, till he gets to the conspiracy to suppress him. He refuses to acknowledge a lot of their gaps, instead purporting some great theoretical idea and demanding they all disprove it. He seems, at this point, to be actively ignoring policies. The only way he couldn’t understand the policies by now is if he’s deliberately refusing to ever read them, which may well be possible, but then, he’s deliberately being disruptive. Another editor came in and offered an opinion, but that too, seems to have fallen on deaf ears. The editor could well do with a topic ban. ThuranX (talk) 17:43, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
More on this: JTankers has brought this, in one day, to : AN, 3RR, NPOV, and COI in the last 24 hours, in what’s got to be the Memorial day sale of Forum Shopping.
I note that the user’s User page is being used as a SOAPBOX for his viewpoint, since it cannot be achieved in the article. ThuranX (talk) 17:49, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
The editor has been notified. ThuranX (talk) 17:50, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
I MfD’d the user page, as you are right, it is a blatant WP:SOAP violation. (There is an ongoing controversy about another user’s page which has WP:SOAP-ish problems, and I feel I would be a terrible hypocrite if I did not take action against this page as well)Jaysweet (talk) 17:58, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
I immediately removed all content I thought might violate WP:SOAP as soon as it was brought to my attention. –Jtankers (talk) 12:10, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
But where to next, we’ve tried to explain and he claims he wants dispute resolution but when a new editor HaeB came in and explained the position he was ignored and the information was re-added. I’ve said from the outset when it was included in the LHC article that it deserves an a section/article, although it does fall squarely into the realms of fringe theories it has received main stream press hence deserves a mention. But it’s been a continual fight to try and keep these theories in perspective, and it’s far in breach of WP:UNDUE and yet we cannot seem to explain this clearly enough. Khukri 18:33, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
What’s this about black holes??? Is that for real? –Dragon695 (talk) 20:48, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
Really? That’s the best response we can get at AN/I? read all that material. I did. (Well, msot of it. after a while, it’s repetititve.) ThuranX (talk) 21:54, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
Nobody who has responded is an admin. The admin’s are terribly overburdened, and the best us non-admins could do here would be to try to explain to the user what the problem is — which has already been tried extensively and failed.
If you can get an admin’s attention, that would be great, but “That’s the best response we can get at ANI/I?” is not likely to endear you to them ;p –Jaysweet (talk) 21:58, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Hello, my name is James Tankersley Jr. I am a US Army Officer veteran, a computer programmer with some college physics back ground, and founder and co-administrator of the web site LHCFacts.org. The safety opposition are not fringe, supporters to one degree or another include the following scientists:

  • Professor Dr. Otto_Rössler, Max Planck Institute, University of Tübingen
  • Teresa E Tutt, Ph.D, Nuclear Engineering Texas A&M University
  • Dr. Paul J. Werbos, National Science Foundation
  • Nuclear physicist and lawyer Walter L. Wagner
  • James Blodgett, Master’s degree in statistics and leader the Mensa Special Interest Group Global Risk Reduction.
  • Many others, including some wish to remain anonymous.

I have been contributing to the Large Hadron Collider and Safety of the Large Hadron Collider article and for several months without incident, including content related to legal action against CERN in US Federal Courts. I respect and follow Wikipedia rules and admin instructions to the best of my ability, and my only goal is to prevent unreasonable censorship of the Large Hadron Collider safety issue.

There is an effort to censor the views of recognized experts on Hawking Radiation. Credible scientists including Professor Dr. Otto_Rössler who warn of potential danger from operation of the Large Hadron Collider have been censored from the article in violation of virtually every aspect of WP:NPOV in my opinion. Peer reviewed published references that meet WP:VERIFY and challenge Hawking Radiation are being censored by members with apparent WP:COIN concerns. The validity of Hawking Radiation is a primary safety argument and a significant component of legal challenges to CERN currently before US Federal Courts in Hawaii. Wikipedia admin and CERN employee Khukri (talk) recused himself of admin duties when I asked him to intervene against rule violations by user Phenylalanine (talk) during the period of July 4th through July 9th 2008.

Details of activities in apparent violation of WP:NPOV by editors with potential WP:COIN concerns are detailed at Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard#Safety_of_the_Large_Hadron_Collider and Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard and Talk:Safety_of_the_Large_Hadron_Collider. Thank you, –Jtankers (talk) 01:24, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I see an argument from special knowledge above. I see an attack on Khukri for doing the right thing. I see forum shopping. I do not see Jtankers acting ina responsible manner. The assertions of censorship aren’t borne out by the talk page, where his sources are ripped apart by numerous editors who oppose his edits. ThuranX (talk) 01:56, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
Editor Phenylalanine (talk) removed the content without discussion multiple times and editor Wwheaton (talk) argued for keeping the references. What actions were not responsible? I am not getting help and assistance, just attacks. There is a clear conflict of interest, the issue is before US Federal Courts and CERN editors outnumber the opposition. Shouldn’t we error on the side of inclusion rather than on the side of possible censorship? –Jtankers (talk) 03:19, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
No. Here we err on the side of Wikipedia policy; one policy is WP:NPOV, which specifically charges us to avoid undue weight given to fringe claims. You shouldn’t need to have this explained any further. If you continue to ignore Wikipedia policies, you may be blocked for tendentious editing. — Scientizzle 04:31, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
I do not wish to violate Wikipedia policy. There are no fringe claims that I am aware of, I believe that the article violates WP:NPOV by excluding references to published peer reviewed papers that directly challenge safety arguments (Hawking Radiation) used by CERN related to operational safety and to argue for dismissal of the lawsuit currently before US Federal Court in Hawaii. I wish to pursue formal dispute resolution, I am not sure exactly how this is done, but in the mean time I plan to limit my efforts primarily to the discussion page. (fyi: Of a quarter million AOL voters, 61% do not feel that the risks have been reasonably addressed, not fringe theories and not fringe concerns). –Jtankers (talk) 04:50, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
While it may or may not be undue to dispute the existence of Hawking radation on the article Hawking radiation, peer-reviewed papers that dispute it do not belong in an article on something else! And that’s because, NPOV concerns aside, a tangent on a merely related topic constitutes original synthesis if it is placed there to draw a conclusion unsupported by those high quality sources. That is to say, there is a difference between Hawking radation doesn’t exist and Hawking radation doesn’t exist; the LHC will kill us all! Aside from the one blog, none of the sources I’ve seen from you even mention the LHC. So until you find a high quality source to demonstrate that this belief is significant, it is adequately covered by the statement already present and a link to the article on the topic. You can carry your Hawking-radiation-doesn’t-exist argument to that page if you wish. Someguy1221 (talk) 05:07, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
The article Safety of the Large Hadron Collider currently contains the statement:
  • One concern is that Hawking radiation is not an experimentally-tested or naturally observed phenomenon, and might not exist at all“.
It seems reasonable to me that Professor Dr. Otto_Rössler’s work would be a reasonable reference to support that statement. He argues that mini black holes created by the Large Hadron Collider might become charged, grow exponentially and destroy the planet. His theory Abraham-Solution to Schwarzschild Metric Implies That CERN Miniblack Holes Pose a Planetary Risk has been published on the web for several weeks and Dr. Rossler had an appointment to meet with CERN scientists July 4th to discuss safety issues Grösstes Verbrechen der Menschheit, Chaos, conspiracy, black holes. CERN’s [Review of the Safety of LHC Collisions] also addresses charged micro black hole, a concept that does not appear to have existed before Dr. Rossler published his work, and it appears to be in direct response to Dr. Rossler’s theory. It seems reasonable to me that this reference should be included, as both his report and CERN’s reports are almost equally new and both published similarly on the web and both in the process of peer review.
Variations of the following references have been in the article previously. Hawking Radiation is a significant safety factor, if it is found to not be valid, delay of the Large Hadron Collider would be much more likely. Both of the references speak at least to some degree about the “probability” that Hawking Radiation might be found to be invalid.
An AOL poll is hardly a meritable source for your arguments, I’d wager that a sizable minority, if not majority, still think Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11, that Bush is doing a great job, that global warming’s a myth from the liberals, and that the earth was created in 7 days. Big deal. Uninformed people given questions that push that the world could end immediately, and would that be bad? will answer that the end of everythign would be bad. Duh. ThuranX (talk) 05:12, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
I think the “founder and co-administrator of the web site LHCFacts.org” should probably not use conflict of interest as an argument against another editor. The rest of it looks like a content dispute, as has been mentioned. SHEFFIELDSTEELTALK 14:24, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
Ugh, I was afraid that this would be labelled as a content dispute & the involved parties told to go away. (I stumbled across this thread late last night, & so was unable to offer any comments.) Looking at the discussion on Talk:Safety of the Large Hadron Collider, it’s obvious that this is a far-to-familiar one person vs. a group of editors; the problem is not the content, but interpersonal dynamics. Can one person veto the assumption of a consensus? I don’t know the answer, but I can think of reasons to say “yes” — & “no”.
More to the point in this case, while I have the utmost respect for anyone who has earned a position at CERN, Jtankers has a point here, after a fashion: the article lacks any explanation for why the people who filed an injunction think that the LHC is a potential danger. It doesn’t matter whether their reasoning is based on a Ouiji board, or that a mistake was in CERN’s rationale by an undeniable expert (think Klaatu or Sheldon Cooper :). A sentence or two in the proper paragraph ought to meet that need. And please note carefully: doing this does not give undue weight to a fringe theory, it is explaining the motivation for one group’s actions. Thus writing more than the amount I suggest, IMHO, would give undue weight. — llywrch (talk) 18:33, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
I’s more than a content dispute, it’s more of the Civil POV Push we have seen increasingly on WP as the Pushers of all sorts of POVs get smart about how to abuse Wikipedia. He’s a POV pusher, and end is near kinds guy who won’t stop till forced to. ThuranX (talk) 01:40, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
I don’t think anyone should feel they need to “go away” at this point, and I’m sorry if my post gave that impression. Either there is enough material to justify a WP:RFC/U or continued attempts to resolve this are needed. I just don’t think AN/I is the right place for it just yet. SHEFFIELDSTEELTALK 16:04, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
It is clear it is a content dispute, but it’s more along the lines of a number of editors trying to explain what is acceptable entries to a couple of editors with an agenda. But even though there is a COI with JTankers and even more so with another editor, they are very relevant to these issues currently ongoing and I feel can/should be able to contribute. However trying to explain what is acceptable and what is unacceptable is falling on deaf ears. Maybe RFC/U would be the place to take this, but I have a horrible feeling another group of editors explaining a position would be ignored as well. However Jtankers has said he will no longer edit the article until he “wins” dispute resolution, how one wins a resolution I don’t know. I brought this to ANI to avoid the request for mediation channel as it’s lengthy and some form of resolution is needed rapidly. It’s been through asking for third opinion, spammed across various noticeboard assitance, but still goes on.
I’m asking if someone could take this on and act as an unofficial arbiter, taking an impartial view pointing out to all issues, take some time to look through the LHC article talk page and it’s archives, and look through Talk:Safety of the Large Hadron Collider. Khukri 17:38, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

I’m somewhat aware of the topic in question and uninvolved in the on-wiki frufru over this. I will start taking a look as an uninvolved administrator. Georgewilliamherbert (talk) 22:06, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Safety Issues in Layman’s Terms

Friday, June 6th, 2008

I am assisting in educating about the potential danger and counter unsupportable public relations statements of “no danger”, “don’t worry…” concerning operation of the Large Hadron Collider.

Unlike what CERN tells the public, the Large Hadron Collider Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) writes that current safety arguments are not valid proof of safety. Micro black holes might be created by the Large Hadron Collider, they might not evaporate, they might grow quickly and we have not been damaged by cosmic rays because cosmic rays pass harmlessly through Earth. CERN does tell the public that a new safety report has been completed, but so far the final report is kept secret from the world’s scientists.

The physicists involved, actually a majority of experimental physicists really really want to believe that this type of experimentation is safe, otherwise it could shut down a huge amount of science research.

The problem is that this experiment might be unsafe, actually it might be really really unsafe.

A primary issue is that the energies are so high that the experiment may collapse some particles into ‘micro black holes’. (CERN estimates possible creation at a rate of one per second).

If these exotic particles evaporate or grow extremely slowly, then there would be no problem. However several PHDs in Math and Physics and other theoretical sciences (I can provide quotes and links) believe that BOTH might be false. Micro black holes may likely NOT evaporate and they likely might grow relatively QUICKLY.

That might mean that in a matter of just perhaps a few years or decades a single micro black hole could grow so large that it might actually collapse the entire Earth into it.

CERN wishes to start operating the LHC experiment later this year and is planning to release a study that will attempt to prove safety. But it might not be possible. And the fear is that the experiment might go forward anyway, with the hope that it will prove to be safe…

The alternative is hugely negative for the thousands employed by the experiments and who have been working for years to conduct their experiments. Big stakes for careers, science, prestige, funding, etc.

A court case before US Federal Courts to compel reasonable proof of safety has its first hearing on June 16, 2008 in Hawaii.

More information is also available at other sites, including LHCFacts.org and LHCDefense.org (wealth of quotes, links, articles, etc. from independent sources and credible experts).

Cheers,
JTankers

A good discussion in layman’s terms is available on YouTube video. Interview with Nuclear Physicist Walter L. Wagner on Coast to Coast AM “LHC may cause mini black hole and swallow earth”:

    part 1 of 4
    part 2 of 4
    part 3 of 4
    part 4 of 4

Could the Real Risk to the Planet be Closer to 100%?

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

The following exchange took place on the Talk page of the Wikipedia article for the Large Hadron Collider primarily between myself and Bill Wwheaton who has been representing CERNs interests concerning safety content of this article.

Wikipedia Large Hadron Collider Article, Talk Page

Rees & Close

Risk Calculations and Assumptions reasonable quality, short discussion of risks and calculations at Martin Meenagh blog and some related calculations at James Blodgett on Risks Including this assessment:

If the following reasonable and plausible assumptions prove to be correct, then the uncomfortable truth may be that the probability of destruction of Earth could be closer to 100%, far from the often quoted 1 in 50 million, though only mother nature currently knows for certain due to our limited understanding of the physics involved.
A. LHC Creates black holes as CERN Predicted (1 per second) 1.
B. Micro Black holes do not evaporate as LSAG accepts is plausible. 2
C. One or more micro black holes are captured by Earth’s gravity as LSAG accepts as plausible. 3
D. Micro Black holes grow exponentially as Dr. Otto E. Rossler’s paper predicts and calculates. 4

Jtankers (talk) 15:45, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Looking at the references, I think they do not support the attached statements, and in fact the entire post is just a copy of one to an outside blog. I think we are in a rut here, and have posted a suggestion for getting out in a new section below. Bill Wwheaton (talk) 10:27, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
I disagree, all of the statements are fully supported and supportable. Do you dispute the factuality of any of the statements? –Jtankers (talk) 15:25, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
Yes, I dispute A, that CERN predicted BH production at 1 BH/s, certainly not in the reference 1; B, I do not agree that LSAG (LHC Safety Assessment Group) accepts the invalidity of Hawking’s BH evaporation as plausible; or that the reference given 2, to Helfer’s paper, supports the assertion that they do; C, I do not see that your [8] ref 3, supports your claim that “LSAG accepts…”; and D, while Ressler predicts (& I agree) that a micro-BH inside the Earth would probably grow exponentially after reaching a certain size, this only leads to a meaningful statement about risk (compared to other inevitable planetary risks) when the characteristic timescale for the exponential growth is specified as well. The natural growth time with reasonable accretion efficiency seems to be millions of years, and it appears to me that at least twenty such periods should be required.
Then again, your apparent quotation re “…reasonable and plausible assumptions …” , which appears to be an outside reference, is actually just a verbatim copy of the above post, by you, as posted to a blog. It is clearly not a reliable source according to Wiki standards, and I cannot personally accept it as reasonable or plausible. Finally, your …“could be close to 100%”… statement, if supposed to be supported by multiplying your four likelihoods together—each cherry-picked from the extreme fringes of uncertainty in my opinion—is really not a probability at all (or else if it is, then I can respond that “the probability of destruction of the Earth is 99.9% in any case”, with perfect assurance. FYI, when I multiply my own “worst reasonable case” estimates of the above four probabilities together I get 1/300,000,000, with the additional caveat that if BHs are produced at LHC (only for special ranges of string theory compactification, etc) then they should interact strongly with the Earth, and the cosmic-ray argument, applied to neutron stars, would take hold and reduce the odds by a further factor of maybe 1000. And as one final point: I think it is not reasonable to assume that all the more than 2000 knowledgeable scientists working on LHC are so demented or in denial as to be incapable of assessing the danger of mass murder & suicide for themselves and their families. The essence of sanity is to be able to distinguish between what is possible and what is probable , after all. (This is supposed to be easy, but in the modern world, I fear it is not.)
So forgive me, James; I believe you are sincerely worried, and on a mission to save the Earth, and I have to honor that even though I think your arguments are not convincing. I will continue to defend this front until I see more clearly, either here or in another dedicated article. Best, Bill Wwheaton (talk) 00:29, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
Hello, Bill,

You state that you have some questions about or dispute points A, B and C. The following citations and relevant quotes support the assertions above, plus a brief summary of Dr. Otto E. Rossler’s theory of fast accretion that was posted to LHCFacts.org

A. LHC Creates black holes as CERN Predicted (1 per second)
STUDY OF POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS EVENTS DURING HEAVY-ION COLLISIONS AT THE LHC
“… we see that the (4 + d) black hole will be produced if M is not much larger than 1 TeV.”
The case for mini black holes, CERN Courier
“… the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could allow it to become a black-hole factory with a production rate as high as about one per second”
B. Micro Black holes do not evaporate as LSAG accepts is plausible.
LHC: what if … ? Michelangelo Mangano CERN, TH-PH
“At the LHC, some [MBH] … could start growing”
LHCSafetyAssessment.Group@cern.ch Sun 3/16/08 6:06 AM
“… we are not working under teh assumption that BHs decay. …We are in fact working under the assumption that they are stable”
Dr. Adam D. Helfer Do black holes radiate?
“this prediction rests on two dubious assumptions…”
“no compelling theoretical case for or against radiation by black holes”
Dr. William G. Unruh and Prof. Ralf Schützhold On the Universality of the Hawking Effect
“Therefore, whether real black holes emit Hawking radiation or not remains an open question”
Prof. V.A. Belinski On the existence of quantum evaporation of a black hole
“…the effect [Hawking Radiation] does not exist.”
James Blodgett (Masters Degree in Statistics) 2004 Delphi Study on LHC Risks
“I asked [15] physicists… estimates that Hawking radiation would fail ranged from 0% to 50%…” [average 9.9% doubt].
C. One or more micro black holes are captured by Earth’s gravity as LSAG accepts as plausible.
LHC: what if … ? Michelangelo Mangano CERN, TH-PH
“At the LHC, some of them [MBH] will have v<10 km/s, will be gravitationally trapped”
LHCSafetyAssessment.Group@cern.ch Sun 3/16/08 6:06 AM
“…particles that in head-on collisions … find themselves at rest.” [percentage of at rest results from head-on symmetric collisions unknown]
D. Micro Black holes grow exponentially as Dr. Otto E. Rossler’s paper predicts and calculates.
Bill Wwheaton: “while Ressler predicts (& I agree) that a micro-BH inside the Earth would probably grow exponentially after reaching a certain size”
fyi: Professor Dr. Otto E. Rossler’s theory is that when a MBH accretes a charged particle, say electron, this will not go straight into the MBH, but will circulate around the MBH for a while, and by doing this, a magnetic field will be created which will attract positive and negative charged particles, each at the opposite poles of the MBH, thus accelerating the accretion rate. He estimates potentially as few as 50 months from creation to full Earth accretion

Jtankers (talk) 04:07, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Do you have any references that don’t need to be misrepresented to back up the views expressed on your blog? I got through the first few refs you’ve provided, before giving up. You do realise that saying “Even if X were true, Y would still be false”, does not imply that the writers feel X is is any way true, right? — Mark Chovain 05:06, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
The assertion is merely that the concept is considered plausible and that it is not reasonable to exclude the possibility. In the case of Hawking Radiation the implication is that the net consensus of the cited authors is that the probability can probably be best estimated at 50% at most. But all that is asserted is only that the concept is plausible and not reasonable to exclude the possibility. –Jtankers (talk) 05:24, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
Then at best, this whole thing is original research, because you still haven’t provided a reference showing that there are valid safety concerns. Your refs do not say that it is plausible. Some say that micro black holes likely exist (at higher energies), while others say that even if they did exist at low energies, the LHC would still be safe. That is nothing like saying it is plausible that micro black holes will be created at a rate of 1 per second: an assumption your synthesis requires. — Mark Chovain 05:59, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
The prediction of possible creation of micro black holes at a rate of 1 per second was posted on CERN’s safety web site earlier in 2008. This prediction was also published in the CERN Courier and by other news sources: The case for mini black holes, CERN Courier Quote: “… the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could allow it to become a black-hole factory with a production rate as high as about one per second” I believe this indicates that the assertion is considered plausible by CERN. –Jtankers (talk) 12:09, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Collider Incidents

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

Existing colliders are many times less powerful than the Large Hadron Collider. And most physicists think that the much lower power existing head-on particle colliders have not created micro black holes. However there have been some incidents that hint that science may be close to creating micro black holes even with less powerful colliders, and papers published by MIT physicists argue that bosenova implosions of ultra-cold Bose-Einstein Condensates with Attractive Interactions could result in micro black holes of infinite density. However at least one author of one of those papers argues that the papers may be misleading. Our initial investigation indicates that the papers do appear to predict “real micro black holes”.

RHIC Fireball
For example, Horatiu Nastase of Brown University writes: “We argue that the fireball observed at RHIC is (the analog of) a dual black hole.” The RHIC fireball as a dual black hole by Horatiu Nastase: “… dual to gravitational interaction inside the black hole, deconfining quarks and gluons…”, “… core of the fireball is the pion field soliton=black hole interior…”, “… Most likely there will be no singularity for this black hole….”

The RHIC fireball is not believed to be a true micro black hole, but only the pre-cursor to, or the analog of a micro black hole. Creation of a true micro black hole has been predicted based on some theories to require at least 1 Tev of highly focused energy such as can be achieved with head-on collisions generated by the Large Hadron Collider.

Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) Bosenova Implosion
Nobel laureate Dr. Eric A. Cornell, who leads Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) research at the University of Colorado, wrote of the possibility of stable micro black hole creation as an explanation for missing atoms after an unexpected BEC bosenova implosion at the university of Colorado using naturally attractive Rb85 atoms, “probably not a black hole, more likely…“, though Dr. Cornell doesn’t think a micro black hole was created by one of his experiments, and he explains that the term “probably not” was merely a diplomatic response to that suggestion, and not meant to indicate a belief that micro black hole creation was plausible. Dr. Carl E. Wieman, who also shares the 2001 Nobel prize for Physics writes “I can state ABSOLUTELY CATEGORICALLY that it is totally inconceivable that a black hole could be produced by these phenomena.” However physicists at MIT published papers that appear to suggest (paraphrase) “probably a black hole“.

A difference of opinion appears to exist between the University of Colorado team and physics researcher’s at MIT including Masahito Ueda and Kerson Huang who conduct similar research, based on my understanding of related published material on the subject and communications with some of the physicists involved.

The unexplained Bosenova implosion of Bose-Einstein Condensate with attractive interactions involved a “super atom” at 3 nk (3 billionths of a degree above absolute zero) containing approximately 16,000 naturally attracting Rb85 atoms that were induced to repel to make the condensate stable. From the Wikipedia article on the subject:

When the scientists raised the magnetic field strength still further, the condensate suddenly reverted back to attraction, imploded and shrank beyond detection, and then exploded, blowing off about two-thirds of its 10,000 or so atoms. About half of the atoms in the condensate seemed to have disappeared from the experiment altogether, not being seen either in the cold remnant or the expanding gas cloud.

These atoms were compressed to a single giant atom while mutually repelling each other, and when the atoms were subsequently induced to attract to each other, the BEC unexpectedly imploded beyond detection then exploded and after the explosion thousands of atoms could not be accounted for, they unexpectedly and mysteriously vanished. BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION IN A DILUTE GAS; THE FIRST 70 YEARS AND SOME RECENT EXPERIMENTS

This incident was named bosenova because of its similarity to a “core collapse supernova”.

“However, as yet there is no clear explanation of the energy and anisotropy of the atoms in the explosion, the fraction of vanished atoms, and the size of the cold remnant. One of the more puzzling aspects is that the cold remnant can be far larger than the condensate stability condition that determines the collapse point would seem to allow “

“The atoms that seem to have disappeared almost certainly still exist in some form, just not in a form that could be detected in that experiment. Two likely possibilities are that they formed molecules consisting of two bonded rubidium atoms, or that they somehow received enough energy to fly away fast enough that they left the observation region before they could be observed. They may also have undergone nuclear fusion.”

For a good start understanding what a Bose-Einstein Condensate is, I recommend Dr. Cornell’s high quality web site written in lay person’s terms with several interactive graphics describing Boes-Einstein Condensates

I found the following short article by Science@NASA to be very interesting. The article My Pet Neutron Star speaks of the desire of physicists to create micro black holes in the laboratory and how this might be accomplished.

Neutron stars and their cousins, white dwarfs and black holes, are extreme forms of matter that many scientists would love to tinker with — if only they could get one in their lab. But how? Researchers experimenting with a new form of matter called Bose-Einstein condensates may have found a way.

Is it plausible to believe that bosenova implosions from Bose-Einstein Condensates with attractive interactions might theoretically create the same type of micro black holes that some theories predict might be caused by head-on particle collisions above 1 Tev, and therefore the safety discussion with respect to creation of micro black holes in head-on colliders, which is currently being debated, might also relate to some forms of BEC experimentation? Papers published by the MIT team appear to indicate this.

Have any of these experiments shown any evidence that might tend to support or debunk Hawking Radiation theory? Unknown. Such experimental evidence might be of extreme interest as it relates to the current Safety debate concerning the Large Hadron Collider and predictions that the LHC might create micro black holes.

JTankers

Additional References Added June 9, 2008:

What Studies tend to predict that Micro-Black Holes might plausibly be formed from Bose-Einstein Condensate Bosenova Implosions?

    Instability of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interaction by Antonios Eleftheriou and Kerson Huang, Department of Physics and Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA (February 1, 2008)

“…local collapse to a state of infinite density.”
“We verify that the picture presented by Ueda and Huang is correct. For N > Nc , a “black-hole” does appear at the center of the trap”

Physicists researchers at MIT appear to suggest that laboratory created Bose-Einstein Condensate Bosenova implosions might result in the creation of micro black holes:

    Cold Trapped Atoms: A Mesoscopic System by Kerson Huang, Department of Physics and Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT-CTP#3048

“A black hole opens up at the center, …density fluctuations becomes infinite
“The density in the black hole shoots up as time goes on, fed by waves of implosion

Physicists researchers at MIT appear to suggest that laboratory created Bose-Einstein Condensate Bosenova implosions might result in the creation of micro black holes:

    Instability of a Bose-Einstein condensate with an attractive interaction by Department of Physics and Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

“results are consistent with the formation of a “black hole” of infinite density fluctuations, as predicted by Ueda and Huang”

Theories proposed by Los Alamos Researchers indicate that black holes might contain a new form of matter that is less than infinitely dense, and may actually be similar to Bose-Einstein condensate matter.

    Los Alamos researcher says ‘black holes’ aren’t holes at all by James E. Rickman, elvis@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9203, LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 21, 2002

“Mottola and Pawel suggest that while some degree of collapsing does take place in a dying star, the collapse proceeds only to a certain point. At that point, the intense gravity of the dying star transforms the star’s matter into an entirely new phase. Mottolla describes this phase as similar to a Bose-Einstein condensate, a phase of matter recently observed in a laboratory setting and the subject of scientific excitement in the past few years. “

However Nobel Laureates Dr. Eric A. Cornell and Dr. Carl E. Wieman argue that micro black holes would not be created from gravitational forces that exist with [normal] laboratory created Bose-Einstein Condensates (editor: as long as the BEC atoms continue to mutually repel such as with RB87, and for non-Bosenova implosions as far as I can determine), as detailed in the “The Alternate View” columns of John G. Cramer:

    Bose-Einstein Condensation, A New Form of Matter by John G. Cramer, Alternate View Column AV-77

“The BEC is so compact and dense that, with sufficient atoms added, a mini-black hole of atomic size should form. The BEC of Wieman and Cornell contained only a few thousand atoms of rubidium. The first BEC is a long way from any danger of black hole formation.”