Berkeley keeps on giving and giving

[AKIron]

Craziness that is.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342854,00.html

"[A]ny matter coming into contact with it would fall into it and never be able to escape. Eventually, all of earth would fall into such growing micro-black-hole, converting earth into a medium-sized black hole, around which would continue to orbit the moon, satellites, the ISS, etc."

"Wagner's own background is a bit fuzzy. He claims to have minored in physics at U.C. Berkeley"

[Holden McGroin]

The guy is not far off. 

It won't be the end of the world as he thinks it will be, it just sends us off on an inintended time branch. 

It has already happened: that is why things don't seem quite right.

[Xargos]

This planet is not going to support us forever, we need to learn as much as possible so we can colonize space.  Idiots like that will cause the human race to die faster.  HAARP is more of a threat to us then LHC.

[Chairboy]

Without reading the article (it's totally against the O'Club style) and just going off the quoted bits, I'll assume it has to do with the large hadron collider project.  It's not crazy to acknowledge that an experiment like this _could_ end with an active singularity.  It might be crazy to state unequivocally that it will, but it's not crazy to say "hey, this is a possibility that should be acknowledged and researched".  IANAP, but remember Hawking describing that micro-black holes would radiate on a quantum level too fast to support themselves with influx.  In other words, they wouldn't be able to eat enough to sustain themselves and would burn out very quickly.  If the singularity at risk of being produced is one of those and follows Hawking's model, then everything should be ok.  But the possibility that it goes tango uniform the way the Berkeley guy y'all are talking about probably thinks it might, then...  well, that might be a reasonable answer to why the Drake Equation doesn't seem to work out. 

[Xargos]

The guy making the claim does not have an advanced degree in science.  Even I know that Black Holes sweat, and can't support themselves forever.  Experiments like this could help us create engines that would let us travel in Hyper Space and travel across the Galaxy.

This planet is trying to wean us.

[Maverick]

This is what the article had to say about the folks bringing the suit.

"Wagner's own background is a bit fuzzy. He claims to have minored in physics at U.C. Berkeley, gone to law school, taught elementary-school science and worked in nuclear medicine at health facilities — but he doesn't appear to have an advanced degree in science.

Sancho's qualifications are even murkier, but the lawsuit identifies him as a Spanish citizen residing in the U.S., even if his presence makes the entire case a bit, um, quixotic."

[Yeager]

Back at Trinity in July 1945 there were several very smart people involved in the gadget who believed there was a serious chance the atmosphere would be ignited by the nuclear explosion.

We are still here.

[mensa180]

And here is an article saying why this, and many other things would not happen.

http://www.kressworks.com/Science/A_black_hole_ate_my_planet.htm

It's a good read.

[Xargos]

Good read Mensa, Thanks.