1. I have a Ph.D. in physics. Or something like that. Which means that at some point in my life, I really got excited about this stuff? Presumably? But not any more? Or maybe I never really got excited about it, it was just all sort of a fun intellectual exercise that kept me busy wasting time in school for far too big a chunk of my life? I need a better story here.
2. From the permanent exhibition:
"At CERN, we accelerate particles to extremely high energies, then bring them into collision inside experiments. These collisions are huge concentrations of energy that make new particles. Studying the particles spraying out from the collision point helps us to learn more about the universe we live in."Doesn't that just...bring group writing in a conference room alive for you?
3. From the exhibit on the ATLAS project:
"Here you are at the heart of it all, where the detector's raison d'être becomes apparent. Here is the reason why the Member States of CERN are supporting this timeless project, and why so much effort and money are being dedicated to it: to advance human knowledge, to continue an endless quest to learn where we came from, and why the Universe is as we know it today.
Is it a futile pursuit, when time is short, there are inequalities in the distribution of material goods, and nature itself is under attack? No, for this essential quest is a contribution to keeping humankind on the path of curiosity and intelligence, thereby enhancing our pride as human beings."Related - spotted in a package of temporary tattoos in the gift shop:
Part of me thinks this is brilliant: particle catching...dream catching...science...religion...it's all one big quest to learn where we came from and where we're going! Aaaand another part of me is disturbed. Is "our pride as human beings" really the highest good we can (should?) dream of?
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