http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/ Engadget Comments for Might Higgs boson be a time-traveling ne'er do well out to destroy the LHC? http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 7:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 7:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
"It seems that way back in July, 2007 two theoretical physicists (Danish string theory pioneer Holger Bech Nielsen and the Japanese physicist Masao Ninomiya), proposed an unlikely explanation as why the LHC and the Superconducting Supercollider before it seem to be particularly accident prone. "]]>Oct 13th 2009 8:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
Works now ? :)]]>Oct 13th 2009 8:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 10:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
I'm sure some other people can think of other logical arguments pointing to the stupidity of this theory, but I'll leave it at that.]]>Oct 13th 2009 10:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 11:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 11:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
To put it in very simple terms, consider that there are many different possible futures and which future we end up in depends on lots of little random events. The theory is that the Higgs boson cannot exist 'bare,' and so any 'sequence of events' which leads to the formation of a bare Higgs boson cannot occur. This isn't outlandish, very basic physics; electron orbitals - the foundation of all chemistry - is based on similar principles, i.e. that electrons have to exist in certain configurations because in any other configuration they destructively interfere and cancel their own existence out.

A bare Higgs being impossible simply requires that the experiment to produce one not occur. It doesn't require anything else, and doesn't impact probability in any other way. It's not sending back 'disruptor fields' or anything to mess with the soldering, it's just saying 'I'm impossible' and letting the universe figure out a way to prevent it from happening. And so the LHC fails due to bad soldering rather than blowing up the entire planet because all else being equal, bad soldering is FAR MORE LIKELY than the planet exploding. The universe is lazy, like the contractors who built the thing in the first place.

There is another possibility that does include the LHC blowing up the earth, but it's a based on a subtle argument called quantum suicide, and that has nothing to do with the Higgs boson.]]>Oct 14th 2009 3:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
I'm on it...

"In July 2007, two theoretical physicists -- string theory pioneer Holger Bech Nielsen and physicist Masao Ninomiya -- proposed an unlikely explanation for the problems with the LHC and the Superconducting Supercollider."

...but then Joseph goes on to direct quote the NYT writer, rather than attribute the theory he mentioned in the sentence before to the scientists who conceived it. It wasn't Overbye's idea, Joe, just his article.

Apparently, Engadget has a copy editor that found the story so boring that they couldn't be bothered to do the work.]]>Dec 3rd 2009 10:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 14th 2009 1:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
I see some of the logic that you are using and don't disagree with all of it, but I do have a problem with your explanation of why the timeline disruption theory makes sense. The principle of Occam's Razor suggests that if multiple, competing theories exist to solve a problem or predict an outcome, the simplest theory is almost always the correct one. So if it is "impossible" for a bare Higgs boson to appear, then why would destruction of the LHC be the most likely thing to prevent that from happening. Wouldn't a more simple explanation to this problem of a bare boson existing be that when the LHC is fired up and is fully operational that no experiment will cause a bare Higgs boson to appear, that the experiment itself would just fail? I mean, it is a much simpler and more likely theory if the machine doesn't produce the theorized result rather than this wacky idea that the theorized result is somehow tied to a time disruption event designed to prevent the result in the first place. That's really pushing the boundaries of credibility and according to Occam's Razor that idea is far too complex to be likely, let alone possible.

Just saying...]]>Oct 14th 2009 4:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 7:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 9:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 10:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
Leave science alone. What did it ever do to you?]]>Oct 13th 2009 10:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 14th 2009 4:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
Sorry to challenge your statements again but what you are saying about the universe being probabilistic is based on the 'theories' of quantum mechanics, which are generally concerned with the laws of physics at the sub-atomic level. Fields in the areas of macro-level physics, which are generally outside the realm of quantum mechanics, mainly rely on definite outcomes, not probabilistic outcomes, and many things in these large systems are accurately and precisely predictable.

To be absolutely truthful at the most basic level, many of these ideas will not be understood and actually cannot be understood until such time as a unified 'theory of everything' is proposed, tested, and generally accepted by the greater scientific community. We are a long ways from that happening, as is apparent in theories proposed by major offshoots from String theory and 'M' theory which take completely different paths to propose their solutions to these problems.]]>Oct 14th 2009 4:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/

*bum bum bum...*]]>Oct 13th 2009 7:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
Umm... did you read the article?]]>Oct 13th 2009 9:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 14th 2009 11:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 7:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
Either that or they aren't able to make it work. Don't know why, but the latter strikes me as a bit more probable.]]>Oct 13th 2009 7:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 9:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 9:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 9:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/

If that doesnt work, it'll be a Female HIGGS-X going back to kill Einstein...]]>Oct 13th 2009 8:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
Some believe in him...others are more skeptical.]]>Oct 13th 2009 11:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
p.s. in case you didn't get it, it's Hadron, not hard-on.]]>Oct 13th 2009 8:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 9:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 10:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 8:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 9:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
Don't ask me about the relevance of it.]]>Oct 13th 2009 8:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 9:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
In this scenario, a future society would realise how close we came to destroying ourselves and continually sabotage attempts to discover the Higgs boson. Now you might ask, why didn't they stop the atomic bomb? Well, maybe the knowledge gained from making the bomb helped to make time travel possible. But the knowledge gained from discovering the Higgs boson destroys the universe. ]]>Oct 13th 2009 8:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Question-- is there a boson's mate?
sry had to do it. ]]>Oct 14th 2009 12:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 14th 2009 4:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/
It's because these particles, along with nature itself apparently, obviously are capable of logic, reasoning, and cognitive thinking. Duh.

Seriously, though, has the New York Times really come to this?]]>Oct 13th 2009 8:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/

really tho, is the second half of the article a mockery or just a lack of detail, both of which confusing people.

]]>Oct 13th 2009 9:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/might-higgs-boson-be-a-time-traveling-neer-do-well-out-to-destr/Oct 13th 2009 10:07PM