What if the Higgs is not discovered?

[Dadface]

If the Higgs is not discovered with the present generation of machines then would that really be an important discovery in its own right and could the tax paying public be convinced that their money had been well spent?

 

[Pengwuino]

I'm not convinced the tax paying public sees actually discovering it as money well spent in the first place.

 

[dhillonv10]

One has to admit that a lot of good physics has come out of the accelerators that we build. Higgs was indeed amongst other things the primary objective, SUSY is also not looking too well at Lepton-Photon 2011. Now as it has been stated before, people never see paying money to do physics experiments with good eyes, however, it seems that the money was well spend. But with all that said, there's still some chance that it'll show up.

 

[Fineliner]

Without basic physics research we wouldn't have transistors, computers, internet, radio TV
One couldn't get a scan in a hospital, or an Xray
So fundamentals of physics are good, basic research is required to develop new technology
The LHC has costed us lots of money; and it might take 50 years or more to see its fruits
But meanwhile even by building it we improved our understanding of physics


is it worth it ?

No we never needed computers internet mobile phones, GPS windmills solarpower etc.
i prefer a cavemen lifestyle, and be close to nature
And have a throw-able tablet, (a stone) for killing animals.

where did it go wrong ?

i guess some people needed to invent fire for a smoke or cooking.


Can we go back ?

Sure find my cave.

Should we stop at some point ?

Yes my cave really is enough once you get used to birds instead of ringtones.

Is it like a religion asking for funding and giving a believe ?

Yes if you think we and our inventions of cellphones etc do really matter in the universe.
I try to keep my universe at the size of my cave and we simply scream instead of dial.
Oh an just for the record from ALL Earth's species only we think we need to dial daily or need to be online.
But its really no requirement for life, and i even doubt it makes sense.
All those other animals might have been right all the time.
As monkeys we must be quite amusing to them.


Oh well let's go back to my cave