Martin John Rees, a respected British astronomer and cosmologist, made an unexpected and very bold statement. According to him, the strange experiments with a particle accelerator being carried out in Switzerland now bring to the world the most real possibility of an epic catastrophe.
Modern particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider CERN, accelerate particles to incredible and previously unimaginable speeds, endowing them with tremendous energy. The particles then collide with other matter and physicists observe the results. According to Martin Rees, these experiments carry enormous risks.
In his new book, Future: Prospects for Humanity, Martin Rees makes extremely gloomy conclusions and predictions.
Introducing his new book in an interview with The Telegraph, the astronomer popularly explains how all these experiments could end:
“The first thing that can arise in the course of experiments is a relatively small black hole, the potential of which, nevertheless, is enough to suck in everything that will be around. At the very least, it will be a huge fragment of the geological mass, the disappearance of which will create a hole in the depths of the mantle."
“It is possible that particles do not have enough energy to create a black hole, and a geological catastrophe will not happen. However, another possibility is completely real - the recombination of quarks into specific objects, which physicists call "strange". In equations on paper, these quark recombinations look completely harmless, nevertheless, these same equations show that "strange" objects can give rise to a new form of matter, turning the Earth into a kind of speculative semblance of a hyperspace sphere. As a result, in the projection of conventional measurements, the planet will shrink to the size of a football field, that is, its diameter will be about 330 feet."
“Finally, in addition to a black hole and 'strange matter', collisions of ultrahigh-energy particles can generate a kind of supervacuum. Vacuum is an ordinary and familiar empty space. However, it is not completely empty, having enormous potential forces hidden in it, which control the physical world. If this control is somehow, even locally violated, the physical laws themselves will be violated. An absolute emptiness will appear, which will be more terrible than the most terrible black hole, since this emptiness will draw in space itself, the vacuum itself. From the point of view of cosmology it will probably be really amazing, nevertheless, for some volume of reality it will be annihilation and a complete catastrophe."
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It sounds frankly scary. But should we really worry now? Of course, the smart people at the LHC will help us clear this up.
“The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) Safety Assessment Team confirms and expands on the findings of the 2003 report. These findings are that particle collisions using the LHC are not dangerous or worrying,”writes CERN on its website.
And further: “Regardless of what the LHC team wants or does not want, nature has done all this many times throughout the existence of the Earth and other astronomical bodies. So, cosmic rays are completely natural versions of what physicists create with the help of the LHC or other particle accelerators. And these rays constantly hit the Earth. But so far nothing terrible has happened anywhere."
In addition to the official LHC Safety Assessment Group, Stephen Hawking also gave his blessing to the particle accelerator: "The world will not end when the LHC turns on … the LHC is absolutely safe." Cosmic ray collisions occur billions of times a day in the Earth's atmosphere. But, as you can see, nothing terrible happens."
Well, which of them is more right? Martin Rees is 100% certain that the CERN experiments will end in disaster. Stephen Hawking was 100% sure nothing would happen. However, CERN and Stephen Hawking write about "natural cosmic rays," and Martin Rees writes that the experiments carried out at CERN are unprecedented even in observable space. " Where then does CERN have such reassuring conclusions? Based on what observations and knowledge?
“Physicists have to be careful about conducting experiments that have no precedent, even in space. Many of us tend to dismiss potential risks as science fiction, yet these daunting theoretical possibilities should not be ignored, even if they are very unlikely,”Martin Rees told The Telegraph.
Probably, after all, Martin Rees is more right, nevertheless, we will leave this overwhelming task to the black hole, where the brave researchers of particles will be the first to go.
