CERN and its LHC ~ Year of Light

CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe. They use the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles. The particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature.
 http://home.web.cern.ch/about

CERN 2015 was declared the International Year of Light with regard to all technologies that are light based. This was declared by the UN General Assembly on the occasion of the centenary of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. CERN is taking this wonderful opportunity to communicate about the High Luminosity LHC project and CERN’s involvement in the SESAME synchrotron project in Amman Jordan very near Israel's border.

The current Members (2014) of SESAME are Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority, and Turkey.

Current Observers (2014) are Brazil, China (People’s Republic of), France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Through the SESAME Council, the Members of SESAME have full control over the development and exploitation of the Centre, and its financial matters.

What is interesting for me as a social reality observer are the projects and cooperation we find at CERN. It is very interesting to observe the names and or titles given to things which are socially created. SESAME is a word used to request entry into something... "open Sesame!" I also find very note worthy as I like to pay attention to symbols used to illustrate places and agendas or projects which actually reveal hidden agendas in the imagination. For instance, there is a statue at CERN that catches my attention in this respect. It is the Hindu Shiva dancer performing so to speak at the CERN. This statue has meaning and my being a sociologist, meaning means everything in the social reality.  The depiction of the Hindu god Shiva is of a cosmic dancer who performs his/her divine dance to destroy a weary universe and make preparations for god Brahma to start the process of creation. Mmm...

Speaking also as a sociologist that gets excited about quantum physics, I can only try to imagine what scientists are up to at CERN given their statuesque inspiration; but do I want to??? What are they looking for, imagining and even hoping for?

Just this week, CERN restarted its LHC program after a lengthy pause. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way. Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide.

What does the LHC mean for social reality? Good question. We must first ask what is the interest we and we as in 'scientists' have in creating something like the LHC? Is it for the betterment of all social imagination as in all humanity? If yes, in what way? What do we gain from such experimentation? Some say information about what black holes. I can tell you that black holes are attractive to us only because we are collectively using our social imagination as in socially engaged in learning about the universe. So, what could be wrong with that? Nothing, I might suppose. But, what would understanding a black hole mean to us in our socially imagined universe? That is the question. And, what if it proves not good as in not wise for social reality? We could imagine gaining some kind of cosmic insight into our social imagination, but that simply would be a stretch of the imagination... how flexible is the fabric of the social imagination without losing our humanity? Is that risky? I suppose it is.  Could it be bad for social imagination? Don't know yet.



So, hang on to your hats as we 'open Sesame'!











*FYI - the first photo above was taken by me in my kitchen with a simple camera. I guess I have a social quantum imagination and don't need LHC to prove it.




http://home.web.cern.ch/topics/large-hadron-collider

 http://www.sesame.org.jo/sesame/about-us/members-and-observers-of-sesame.html