While most scientists don’t like the nickname “God particle” (and while many religious people might not neither), it’s certainly generated a lot of coverage in the media.
Because of the God-based nickname the particle has been given, the discovery of the Higgs has attracted a lot of press attention, and I’ve received quite a number of requests to comment on it.
What is the Higgs boson? Why is it important?
And why do they call it the “God particle”?
In this video, I take a look at these and similar questions to give you the basics of the new discovery and what to make of it from a religious perspective.
Before we get to the video, though, here’s a Higgs-related joke (adapted from one I read on the Internet):
A Higgs boson walks into a church. The priest, offended by its nickname of the “God particle,” immediately orders it out.
The Higgs shrugs and turns to leave. “Okay,” it says. “But without me, you can’t have Mass.”
Groan!
At least if you know the basics of what the Higgs boson is supposed to do.
If not, watch the video and find out!
If you’re reading this by email, click here to view the video.
By the way, several of the requests I got for comment came from members of the Secret Information Club. If you’d like to get cool, informative material on a variety of topics from me by email, you should sign up at www.SecretInfoClub.com or just use this handy sign up form:
If you have any difficulty, just email me at jimmy@secretinfoclub.com.
You can also listen to or download an audio, podcast version of this video. Just click the “play” icon to listen!
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And then Jesus came upon his disciples and said, “What, brethren, is this ridiculous bullshit I’ve been hearing about me being a human sacrifice for your sins!!? Hast thou lost thy fucking minds!!!!? What in the goddamned hell kind of Neanderthal bullshit is that!!? Blood sacrifice!!!!!!!!?? Are you all insane!!? Listen, brethren, as I tell you a secret. Love me, adore me, praise me. But, please, for the love of the Buddha, stop with this sadistic, immoral, disgusting, sickening, vile, wicked, pathetic bunch of Stone Age bullshit about blood sacrifices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s fucking outrageous and it makes us all look like a bunch of goddamn deluded, brain-dead lunatics!!!!”–Jesus Christ, the Lost Gospel
Great joke Jimmy – I’ve emailed it to many people!
A good lay-summary of what the mainstream scientists say about Higgs. Although the LHC is the most expensive scientific instrument ever made, designed to detect things we cannot see, to test a theory most people cannot understand and which seems against common-sense – no-one claims the LHC is a money-making fraud by these scientists in Europe.
For me, the motivation of the scientific quest overlaps with religious questions. Science attempts to explain more and more phenomena using fewer and fewer theories. Because scientific method cannot go beyond the testable, we must eventually say that certain contingent facts “just are” and no further explanation is possible or be willing to go further to seek an Ultimate Cause which is its own cause. God is the ultimate explanation and ultimate “Theory of Everything”.
Interesting Jimmy, I never heard of this before.. I shared it on my Homeschooling blog : )