Are Scientists Having a Steffi?

[El Sid]

Scientists are now theoretically predicting the cosmos will be replaced by another cosmos in billions of years.

Apparently it's a simple calculation......
BBC News - Cosmos may be

Is it time they got proper jobs, like sorting out famine, drought and disease and stuff like that?
Who employs these nutters?

 

[Bold Seagull]

Scientists are now theoretically predicting the cosmos will be replaced by another cosmos in billions of years.

Apparently it's a simple calculation......
BBC News - Cosmos may be

Is it time they got proper jobs, like sorting out famine, drought and disease and stuff like that?
Who employs these nutters?

Sid, with the greatest respect, famine could be wiped off the earth with political will, not scientific.

 

[El Sid]

Sid, with the greatest respect, famine could be wiped off the earth with political will, not scientific.

You are probably right, but I sometimes wonder whether we need to know about things that might happen so far into the future when there is so much misery in the present. Scientists skills could be better used and money spent more wisely.

 

[father_and_son]

Not quite sure how a background in particle physics or quantum mechanics would help with world famine. Might as well as ask all butchers to stop their pointless horse-slaughtering and concentrate on solving the mysteries of the cosmos..!

 

[RyFish]

Scientists are now theoretically predicting the cosmos will be replaced by another cosmos in billions of years.

Apparently it's a simple calculation......
BBC News - Cosmos may be

Is it time they got proper jobs, like sorting out famine, drought and disease and stuff like that?
Who employs these nutters?

If it wasn't for scientific research like this you would never have had a computer/smartphone to ask that question.

 

[El Sid]

How would YOU use a cosmologists skills, other than cosmology?

They can do what they f***ing like for FREE!

 

[Badger]

Yeah, what's science ever done for us?....

 

[El Sid]

Unfortunately, understanding the universe doesn't come for free. We didn't spend £2.1bn on the Large Hydron Collider for nothing...

Hasn't it just been shut down for a few years for an upgrade?

 

[Barn Door Billy]

How would YOU use a cosmologists skills, other than cosmology?

This. This thread shows a bit of a misunderstanding about the nature of science and scientists. Scientists are not mythical wizards with endless talents, they are very clever people who specialise in extremely specific areas. The people working on the project mentioned could not simply turn their skills to a totally different area just because it is all 'science'. "hello mr plumber, could you build me a house please? What do you mean no!? You use a screwdriver in your work don't you?" and besides, you think there might be other people trying to solve famine, cancer etc.? There aren't just one group of scientists who can only work on one 'science' problem at a time. These aren't problems that can be solved with a snap of the fingers (or just the addition of a few more 'scientists' to the team).

 

[maltaseagull]

Yeah, what's science ever done for us?....

Roads?

 

[Norman Potting]

Einstein and that E=mc2 - what was all that about, he should have got a proper job.

 

[El Sid]

Yeah, but the data collected already will keep physicists & cosmologists busy for decades. Hence why that article you linked us is news!

I sincerely hope something useful comes from their endeavours. However, I doubt that news on the fate of the cosmos several billion years hence will benefit our descendents or mankind in general.

 

[Kazenga <3]

Scientists are not mythical wizards with endless talents

Way to break it gently

 

[yxee]

I sincerely hope something useful comes from their endeavours. However, I doubt that news on the fate of the cosmos several billion years hence will benefit our descendents or mankind in general.

It's not fair to say it's a waste of money without looking through every single 20th century invention in your house and wondering if it would exist if it weren't for the (underpaid) efforts of crazy scientists in pursuit of seemingly abstract goals. You could have said the same for the scientists looking for antimatter in cloud chambers in the 1920s. 70 years later, the positron emission tomography machine was named the invention of the year, and routinely detects, and monitors treatment of cancer cells in humans. The scientists who work at the LHC are the exact same people who do research in PET, because the particle physics is the same! Your computer would not exist, nor a mobile phone, or GPS device for starters.

The US government spent more in its recent bank bailout than it has done in the entire history of NASA. CERN's entire history from 1994 to the present day has cost the taxpayer approximately 0.1% of what the 2008 bank bailout cost us. So it makes me quite annoyed when people say this money is being wasted.

 

[Hungry Joe]

I think the idea of a cyclic universe is strangely comforting.

 

[smeariestbat]

Einstein and that E=mc2 - what was all that about, he should have got a proper job.

'get a pro-per job, get a proper job'

 

[smeariestbat]

i think we should merge this thread with the one on benefits and food banks and see which people would rather the money was spent on. then sit back and admire the inevitable binfest.

 

[El Sid]

Collectively, humanity has the will to understand everything, without exception. It's why we have historians, naturalists, archaeologists, philosophers etc. Certain fields of understanding may not seem to serve any real purpose, but you should never underestimate the power of knowledge. Cosmology is the understanding of the past, present and future of our universe - It's important for many reasons, but for example in the future it will assist our colonisation of space, and perhaps even end religion. That may not be in our life time, but we exist to serve the future of our species.

Today is Copernicus' 540th birthday, so it's quite appropriate to recognise how important his most renowned discovery that the earth is not the centre of the universe has been for humanity ever since - just as our cosmological discoveries today will be important to the people of the future.

Copernicus - is he the geezer wot invented the chastity belt?

 

[Fef]

Roads?

Oh, all right then. Apart from the roads, what's science ever done for us?

 

[Waynflete]

Oh, all right then. Apart from the roads, what's science ever done for us?

The aqueduct?