But Now You're Talking Sense

The Times has a more useful piece than the last-mentioned in the form of an editorial about the Large Hadron Collider, which some people think will create a black hole or other form of funky matter that will end the world. The editorial points out that the same fears were raised by the same worrywarts about another machine, which was turned on and the world didn't end. It's like the boy who cried wolf: You can only claim that a particle accelerator will literally cause the end of the world so many times before people stop taking you seriously. And why overstate things anyway? Maybe if a black hole were produced, it would only eat a couple of counties or something. Plus which, the collider is in Switzerland. Do the Swiss seem like people who would run unnecessary risks? The fact is, some people just plain worry too much: