Summer Under the Lily Moon
Here’s an interesting response from friend, former nuclear engineer and former Jesuit, Bill Schmidt:
Just read your blog entry about Higgs. Thought you might enjoy reading this from Huntington-Post. Be aware that the top of the page says Comedy. I am especially taken with the wording included in one of the paragraphs about a trail – perhaps an ancient trail. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Here’s something no one in a white coat will say outright, “Of course we didn’t really find anything.” But they didn’t. They can’t. Not according to the very rules of their own game. The Higgs boson and all other subatomic particles are too small to be detected directly. What one finds in a particle hunt is evidence. One finds a trail, a trail left behind in the microseconds of a particle’s death throes after it is spun out of a somewhat larger particle that collides at incredibly high speeds with yet other particles under circumstances that can only occur in supercolliders, rare cosmic events…
This all makes me think that this may lead to revisiting and re-imagining faith. All too much faith in 17 mile magnetic explorers who choose to accept only what their machines tell them, based on theories they created to persuade others that they really know what makes all of this tick. Not enough faith in our ability to explore what is between the two notions (the word notions is a pointer to abstractions) of a goddamn particle (undiscoverable) and a god particle that is now named Higgs Boson. Perhaps instead of living 500 feet below ground with their magnets, these guys should take a walk in the woods with the likes of Emerson, Wordsworth, Thoreau, and others. They like the happy Anoka gardener allowed their direct experience to tell them a lot about life, the world, and the way it all works. Or the way it is.
No matter what anyone says, it may all be a great human comedy. Or, tragedy.
Blessings,
Bill
