The Higgs boson.

[kenel]

Physicists have been looking for the "God particle" for quite some time now. They've built gigantic particle accelerators, in hopes they'll find the Higgs boson. My question is...once we find this particle...then what? What's the use of these trillion dollar particle accelerators? What else is there left to find with them?

[Radical Edward]

there is still alot of behaviour of the various particles to find as yet, although ultimately these constructions are no more than huge scientific facilities - you couldn't boil a cup of tea with them for example. So in that sense they are useless.

 

on the flip side though, there has been alot of research into detection devices, superconductors and so on that has commercial applications that provide benefits beyond merely those of the discovery of new stuff. Furthermore, the theories and such that are spawned from these may have implications further down the line, as Quantum mechanics does. 50-60 years ago, I'm sure people asked the same about QM, but look now, Quantum computers, entanglement, computer technology, Quantum Well and Semiconductor lasers etc... all impossible without QM.

[kenel]

My idea would be to turn them into weapons of mass destruction. Show the middle east what the war on terrorism is really about.

[Radical Edward]

they would be terrible WMD. besides, it's only the fanatics and dictators that really need getting rid of. all WMD would do is upset people. anyway, I'm not discussing war...

[kenel]

I was kidding by the way, my REAL suggestion would be to rent it out to the private sector. Like the government does with their gigantic array of satalite recievers.

[Radical Edward]

I guessed so... anyway, I can't see what the private sector would want with it.

[Guest Hogslayer]

I dunno, mushroom growers love them in Texas.

[kenel]

The Higgs Boson must be less than 1 trillion eV, or our theory about the creation of the world, and universe will get interesting.