Out of Control Science

[Ndi]

No, you should not assume that. "Sleep soundly at night knowing we are on far more danger from something else" and "as close to impossible as possible" are not even close to being the same thing.

 

I didn't. Different paragraphs, I was referring as theory (possible) and practice (safe ENOUGH).

 

Still, the question remains. Do you agree that if we define "safe enough" as "the chance of this happening is a *lot* smaller than some other thing we can't control", such a lab can be made safe enough?

 

It is my opinion that it can be made safe enough, just as data can be made safe enough by pushing the combinations very very far. Nothing is uncrackable, but if it takes you 2 million years to crack it, it's uncrackable for all intents and purposes.

[JohnB]

Still, the question remains. Do you agree that if we define "safe enough" as "the chance of this happening is a *lot* smaller than some other thing we can't control", such a lab can be made safe enough?

If we are talking about a "grey goo" scenario then the answer is no. Since the result of a failure would be 100% terminal to Earth then the only possible safety factor is also 100%. I think we are agreed that this is impossible to achieve for any lab on the planet.

 

You can have all the filters and flame you want, but a medium sized meteorite strike a couple of miles away could open large cracks in the walls. Game over.

 

While this may seem unlikely (and it is) the odds of winning the lottery in Oz are some 40 million to 1 against, yet people seem to still win. Yes a lot of people play Lotto, but a lot of rocks fall from the sky too, and it only takes one in the right place. Since the stakes are the survival of the human race, then any chance is too great.

 

The only place to experiment with something like that is in Solar orbit between Earth and Venus. That way if anything goes wrong we can drop the whole lab into the sun.

[1veedo]

The meteorite thing isn't really that big a concern. NASA has a webpage that lists all the major asteroids that could do damage, the year(s) they come close to Earth, and the chance of it hitting.

 

I believe the next asteroid is due 2017 and there's like a .1% of it hitting. If you take say ten years, the chance for a meteorite of hitting us is is .01%. (btw if anyone could find this page it'd be appreciated -- I tried finding it just a couple weeks ago to show a friend)

 

The chances of a meteorite hitting us in say a billion years is like 100%, but w/o the next century it's practically zero.

[GutZ]

hmmm. What about creating Blackholes? It's probably myth, but will the LHC have the possibility to do this?

[Royston]

This should answer your question...

 

http://www.scienceforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22919&highlight=LHC+blackholes

[GutZ]

lol, have you ever seen the movie called "The Void". Anyway, yeah I didn't it was a concern, but I wanted to contribute.

[Rocket Man]

The only place to experiment with something like that is in Solar orbit between Earth and Venus. That way if anything goes wrong we can drop the whole lab into the sun.

a solar mass blob of hot grey goo...

[JohnB]

I was kinda hoping they wouldn't survive the drop.

The chances of a meteorite hitting us in say a billion years is like 100%, but w/o the next century it's practically zero.

Actually, the chance of a strike in the next 24 hours is nearly 100%. Meteorites fall to Earth every day.

 

You're thinking of planet killers. I'm talking about a small one hitting near the lab. Think Tunguska, 10-15 megatons and the damn thing didn't even make it to the ground. Piddly thing by galactic standards but it still destroyed 2,150 square kilometres of forest.

 

Actually, if you use Google Earth and go to 60'55"N, 101'57"E the damage is still visible after nearly 100 years.

[1veedo]

There's a lot more land with out laboratories then there is with laboratories.

 

The chances of a meteor landing on your head is of the same order of magnitude or a meteor hitting a laboratory with something "dangerous."

[JohnB]

Of course. The probability is very low but I view that it is still too high considering the consequences of a strike.