Cool Story Bro, but I have to agree that I never head anyone use that expression before.
Must be a Sun-Fox/News-Kind-of-thing.
Must be a Sun-Fox/News-Kind-of-thing.
Seriously, stop calling it the "God Particle"
- Thread starter chuketek
- Start date
Recommended Videos
While the name does represent the particles affects rather well, I agree. It makes some religious groups irritated to have their god compared to a particle. I find it kind of funny how people view this as belief, or disbelief, in god. It has a 'blasphemous' nickname, but that doesn't make the particle 'against god.' Most monotheistic, if not all, believe that god created everything, this is just something else he/she/it created, god just used it a lot.
Kind of nice to know that there are great scientists among us gamers, shows that we're all not a bunch of 12 year olds and murderers.
Kind of nice to know that there are great scientists among us gamers, shows that we're all not a bunch of 12 year olds and murderers.
and lo, xkcd did say: http://xkcd.com/303/Von Strimmer said:
See, this is one of the reasons I love the internet. It lets people who actually know what they're talking about reach out to anyone who's genuinely searching for the answers.thethingthatlurks said:
Doing my own one seems like far too much work.
Also, at the risk of breaking my apparently knowledgeable image, what's an IAMA?
Google tells me:
International Artist Managers' Association
International Antiquarian Mapsellers Association
International Acoustic Music Awards
etc. etc.
I guess there should have been a catchier name than 'Higgs Boson'
Science really does need to find more fun names for different things like this. Most regular people will not remember something like 'Higgs Boson', sadly that would be asking a lot from them. If a regular person were looking at the words 'Higgs Boson' and 'God Particle', the first is two unfamiliar words and the second are words that make for an easy understanding.
Remember Laminin?
Trying to remember scientific names is hard. You science people need to pick simpler words.
Science really does need to find more fun names for different things like this. Most regular people will not remember something like 'Higgs Boson', sadly that would be asking a lot from them. If a regular person were looking at the words 'Higgs Boson' and 'God Particle', the first is two unfamiliar words and the second are words that make for an easy understanding.
Remember Laminin?
Trying to remember scientific names is hard. You science people need to pick simpler words.
Somewhat similar to Stem Cells, although "Stem Cell" is the proper name. There are entire groups of people that think scientists are monsters that harvest the brain-stems of newborn babies. We get Stem Cells from the umbilical cord.
Ive never even heard God Particle before but 1. Awesome job keep up the good work I could never do that stuff I'm not smart enough. 2. That part at the end about "You should read it sometime" would have pissed me off so much. Unless it was a friend I would have told them off. Kudos to you for keeping your cool.
Thank you for the interesting post, and fuck me, but "God Particle"? It doesn't sound cool, it sounds retarded.
I'll probably be looking into this, it seems really interesting.
I'll probably be looking into this, it seems really interesting.
Leon Lederman, in his 1994 book "The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question?" He did sort of win a Nobel Prize in Physics, so he sort of knows what he's talking about. I'm not sure if he was the first to use the name, and I doubt he meant it with any explicitly religious connotationsimnotparanoid said:
Pretty much this. It is an apt nickname and shouldn't be sabotaged by idiots. If he thought that telling you to read a creation myth would make you a theist, he already had a preconceived notion of how things worked and your explanation wasn't going to do dick.Thamous said:
However, I did enjoy your OP post since I didn't know the whole Electromagnetism connects everything part. I probably should have but that is bad on me and I appreciate the snippet of education.
IAMA=I am a. It's basically a Q&A session that's very popular on reddit. You write a brief introduction "IAMA physicist working at CERN," people ask their questions, and you respond for however long you want. Given that you have such an amazing job (seriously, I would pack my bags and move to Geneva in a heartbeat if there were any use for a 20-something nerd pursuing a MS degree in theoretical chemistry at CERN), I think it would be a great opportunity for the people here to learn about CERN, particle/theoretical physics, and what being a scientist working in one of the most impressive laboratories on earth is like.chuketek said:
Yep, he was the first. He said in a foreword added to a newer edition that it was initially a joke, and a working title for the book that ended up sticking. I think somewhere else he said he disliked it (in my own words) because it offended physicists, as it over-exaggerated the importance, and it offended the highly religious because, well, it used the word god, and therefore undermines them.GoodOmens said:
But don't quote me on the second part, I can't remember where it's from.
Well, I have to say, that was a rather enjoyable read.
To answer your question, no, I don't think we can stop calling it the God Particle. It just (to some) sounds better and, as you said, creates an image. I don't call it that, I just think people will always call it the "God Particle".
To answer your question, no, I don't think we can stop calling it the God Particle. It just (to some) sounds better and, as you said, creates an image. I don't call it that, I just think people will always call it the "God Particle".
Personally I'd kinda like for string theory to go away as I've never really felt it deserves the attention it got. Seems like academic politics made it the leading theory over actual scientific merit. So in a way I'm glad to finally see it get tested in some way, and hopeful that when no higgs boson is found the fiasco ends. I realize that it probably won't, and the string theory faithful will just keep hammering away trying to make it work. Holy crap! It's almost like a religion itself! =). Maybe God particle is somewhat of an adept name.
On the other hand, failing to find the higgs boson will certainly be used as ammo by creationists.
I don't see much upshot either way =\, so I'm very torn.
On the other hand, failing to find the higgs boson will certainly be used as ammo by creationists.
I don't see much upshot either way =\, so I'm very torn.
Haha good little comic. You could always bring out the tried and true "Can it wait for a bit I'm in the middle of some callibrations".chuketek said: