The builders of the world's biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet.
Well I am going out on a limb and speculate this isn't going to do much to bridge the chasm between technologists and lawyers. Its also probably not going to do much about dispelling the impression that they resemble ants at a picnic.
Putting away the cheap shots at lawyers, this begs the question just where are the limits of our legal system and why aren't there stiffer penalties for bringing nuisance suits that can and do have serious negative consequences for the parties involved.
Lets just first establish that this is a nuisance suit. The LHC is located in Switzerland near Geneva. Just how did someone decide that U.S. courts were the competent jurisdiction ?
Nest we have jurisprudence by peer pressure at work. The plaintiffs have decided to bring in anyone they could find that could be considered even remotely connected to the project.
Last Friday, Wagner and another critic of the LHC's safety measures, Luis Sancho, filed a lawsuit in Hawaii's U.S. District Court. The suit calls on the U.S. Department of Energy, Fermilab, the National Science Foundation and CERN to ease up on their LHC preparations for several months while the collider's safety was reassessed.
Be thankful you weren't included on the list. After all your tax dollars go to those organizations. This can be called making anyone you can deal with your idiocy. What they are hoping for is to create problems for someone who can exert pressure on the project. Certainly an effective tactic but should it be allowed in a courtroom ? Outside of the rarefied setting of the court we call it Blackmail.
Finally they seek a four month injunction on the lab firing up. Minmimally
"We're going to need a minimum of four months to review whatever they're putting out," Wagner told me on Monday. The suit seeks a temporary restraining order that would put the LHC on hold, pending the release and review of an updated CERN safety assessment. It also calls on the U.S. government to do a full environmental review addressing the LHC project, including the debate over the doomsday scenario.
Forget about the research time lost, the LHC is an 8 billion dollar project. Four months delay in interest and carrying costs on the money will be in the tens of millions. Then there is the cost of maintaining the project at standby over the time period and the disruption to their lives.
Will the plaintiffs even be required to put a surety against their loss ?
Stories like these illustrate the real cost to society of our out of control legal system. Everyone loses except the lawyers and society is denied the labors of those seeking to advance it.
As just a side not XKCD had a better take on the accelerator.
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