Bigger machine, bigger thinking
A European plan to build the world鈥檚 largest particle accelerator has sparked questions about humility and the frontiers of thinking in physics.
The globe of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland.
AP/file
The operators of the world鈥檚 largest particle accelerator have a plan to at last unlock the most stubborn mysteries of physics. They鈥檙e going even bigger.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, wants to build the largest machine on Earth. The Future Circular Collider would have a circumference of 56 miles, cost $30 billion, and finish construction in 2070. It would be three times larger than what CERN has now, better able to observe the motion of atoms or their parts.
But aside from the logistical hurdles, there鈥檚 a bigger, nagging question: Is it even a good idea?
The fact is, physics is in a funk. Quantum mechanics and general relativity theory began to reshape scientists鈥� view of the physical world more than a century ago. A 鈥渢heory of everything鈥� seemed near, knitting together the last inconsistencies of science into a single, unified theory.
It has not turned out that way. Intervening years have brought exquisite calibration and confirmation, but few groundbreaking advances.
CERN鈥檚 idea is to double down: The answer is out there; we just need to keep pushing. But others are less certain. Maybe blunt-force experimentation has its limits. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a vicious cycle,鈥� wrote physicist Sabine Hossenfelder on her blog. 鈥淐ostly experiments result in lack of progress. Lack of progress increases the costs of further experiment.鈥�
The real question is how physics reinvigorates itself. CERN will have its proposal for a solution by December. Yet a deeper change appears to be percolating within physics 鈥� a growing humility.
It is seen in Dr. Hossenfelder鈥檚 call for scientists to step back from their favored theories and think better and more collaboratively. It鈥檚 also seen in thinkers such as Brian Greene, who said on a recent Templeton Foundation podcast, 鈥淚t鈥檚 very difficult to answer these questions, of course, and what you find is as a working physicist, you don鈥檛 really have to.鈥� Meaning, he added, doesn鈥檛 come from science but from the excitement and inspiration we invest in our different experiences.
Emerging from this openness is a recognition that machines matter, but the frontiers of mind perhaps promise more. 鈥淭he origin of the universe, the origin of life, the origin of mind, are sort of the big three moments鈥� in existence, Dr. Greene noted. 鈥淚 suspect, and I think many scientists agree, that ... there is a real continuum at work here, and I think that鈥檚 pretty important.鈥�
Certainly, a larger particle accelerator might help usher in a new physics renaissance. Larger thinking could do even more.