Okay, I’m not a physicist, so there’s going to be an enthusiasm gap from the get-go. Still, I guess that the new “discovery” (if that’s an accurate label; still seems to be some level of uncertainty there) of the Higgs-Boson “God particle” is truly important. But the holy grail of physics? I’d think the holy grail would discovering what produced the “God particle,” not the fact that this particle is apparently what gives all other particles their mass (maybe readers can follow this explanation; it didn’t help me much). But that’s just me, I guess. I’d still want to know where the particle came from.
The name is pretty unfortunate, too. It gives the impression to people that the particle is the cause of the universe — that thing that explains the Big Bang — but it isn’t. The term is only meant as an analogy, not a substitute for deity (though some will think that way, ignoring what the physicists are actually saying).
And I’m betting that enterprising physicists will soon come up with something it doesn’t explain. Then they’ll have to come up with another name that will draw headlines. How about the Elvis particle? The Oprah particle? Even better … the Obama particle! You heard it here first.
Maybe they should just call it the Particle Formerly Known as God.
Some will, misunderstanding (or ignoring) what the physicists actually say.
Higgs-Boson particle walks into a church…
Priest says “Your kind isn’t welcome here.”
Higgs-Boson particle says, but without me
How can you have MASS?
LOL
Funny how this simple little joke conveys a greater understanding of the particle than most.
I am more interested in the fact that it seemingly confirms the super-symmetry associated with string theory. It doesn’t prove string theory is correct but it’s the first thing discovered in a long while that really helps it seem plausible. The thing that I find most remarkable about all of this is that the deeper we look “matter” really isn’t solid stuff at all – it’s just energy balls or “one dimensional strings.” Seems to me that fundamentally reality is immaterial which implies something closer to Berkely’s idealism than naturalistic materialism.