And will bread be cheaper? 🙂
Daniel Slovák,2022-02-13 12:44:14
What does the study of black holes actually lead to? I’m a layman, and I have nothing against science, but what exactly does black hole research have to bring? ITER is also expensive, but potentially leading to an emission-free source of energy. Perhaps even those heavy-core experiments in April will lead to new materials … but we can’t get to those black holes, we can’t use results like Hawking radiation in any way. It strikes me as an expensive toy for scientists …
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Re: And will cheaper bread? 🙂
gustav basal,2022-02-13 15:07:29
I’m a layman too. But it is in this case that I can imagine that astronomers have long studied the principle of the Sun’s work, and now this source of energy is trying to imitate others in the aforementioned ITER. What would happen if someone whistled researching the Sun and the stars at the beginning?
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Re: And will cheaper bread? 🙂
Vlastimil Holeček,2022-02-13 15:42:25
Basic research almost never leads directly to a practical result. It often takes decades for such research to be evaluated. But it often does happen, and many things in modern technology have their origins somewhere in fairly old scientific theories. If we want to pass something on to future generations, it is scientific knowledge that we cannot use now, but perhaps great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren …
And just to be aware of the context. When scientists invented the semiconductor junction before the war, they could hardly have guessed that after ten years, other scientists would connect them with a transistor so that we would now write these texts to a computer or cell phone for seventy pilots, which would not exist without the transistor.
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Re: And will cheaper bread? 🙂
D. Pear,2022-02-13 17:44:25
There are two options. Either you are a troll or you really don’t understand what basic research is for.
If the second option applies and you really do not understand the importance of basic research, in my opinion it makes no sense to try to tell you your point of view. It would be a futile waste of time.
But it makes sense to clarify another matter. For example, huge amounts of money are estimated to flow into professional sports, comparable to what goes into science. Other huge resources go to filmmaking, music, history and other areas of culture. At the same time, none of this has any positive effect on the price of bread. So please at least respect that many of your fellow citizens want science to be funded. Everything cannot and will not follow your personal life priorities.
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Re: Re: And will cheaper bread? 🙂
Daniel Slovák,2022-02-14 06:39:27
I don’t understand what basic research of this kind is for. A few examples:
1. Research on the interpretation of quantum mechanics, Schroedinger’s cat ,, wave function collapse, EPR paradox … what does it lead to? Well, at the end is a quantum computer. Super.
2. Plasma research, ITER, neutrino capture, … what does it lead to? To the DEMO fusion power plant. Great.
3. Research on superconductivity, phase transitions, …. to what
does it lead him For superconducting materials at high temperatures. Super
4. Research on superheavy cores in April, their production … what does it lead to? To the island of stability and to materials with new properties. Great
5 and now black holes … what does that lead to? I can’t think of anything. Do we want to fly to them as tourists?
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D. Pear,2022-02-14 07:41:53
Basic research is not for what you write. APPLIED research is then used for this. Which is also just RESEARCH and not the development of specific technologies.
Basic research is used to make scientists wonder, so they try to investigate out of sheer curiosity. These potential practical applications are usually not the primary motivation. For example, when Einstein was dealing with a photovoltaic phenomenon for which he received the Nobel Prize, he really didn’t care at the time that solar panels would one day power space probes. Knowledge is like a huge puzzle. You want to put together each piece to get a complex picture.
You are doing something similar now that you are trying to understand basic research. If you would rather do some gainful activity now instead of stupid questions in the discussions, you could have earned a few euros during that time and bought some bread for them. But obviously those tangible material values are not of such value to you, or you are not disciplined enough to do so. (Or you could at least practice foreign languages, etc.) You want to understand the world around you, so you ask about things you don’t need to know about your life.
Or else – do you think that cartographers will only map places where you could probably go on a nice trip plus the immediate vicinity of major transport routes? And they leave the rest of the map white? Creating maps takes a lot of work, it would save you costs if we left half of the map white … And yet perhaps you feel that such thinking is nonsense. No one knows in advance which part of the map they will need in the future. It is as pointless as dealing only with those areas of knowledge that we NOW think we will have practical use for.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Will there be cheaper bread? 🙂
Daniel Slovák,2022-02-14 08:14:24
There is a difference from Einstein. Yes, he probably didn’t know that photovoltaics would power satellites, but he did his research and his 4 fundamental work from 1905 de facto for free … in addition to working for the patent office. But today’s research is already devouring billions. It’s not about a few individuals like Einstein who do physics in their minds. For the discovery of the Higgs boson, taxpayers had to pay hard … so the question “why” makes sense …. you can’t guarantee that if the finances of black holes and string theories have not shifted to the research of quantum computers and high-temperature superconductivity, so we would no longer use e.g. lossless transmission of electricity. Similarly, there are exasolar planets for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize last year. It’s a beautiful idea that there is another Earth somewhere, our maybe a new home, and it will caress every dreamer’s soul, just that we can’t get to it.
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D. Pear,2022-02-14 08:27:14
I wrote to you in my first answer that it’s not just money from your taxes, so don’t worry about it. For example, I am not interested in football and I do not need the national football team, city stadiums, etc. to pay taxes. But there are people who are interested in football and they also work and pay taxes. Well, at least I didn’t go down without explaining myself first.
And now finally make money.
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Daniel Slovák,2022-02-14 08:52:31
I don’t watch football either, but it’s a purely commercial matter. I’m sure you, as a taxpayer, don’t fund Sparta either.
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Vojtech Kocian,2022-02-14 09:41:50
That’s how you’re wrong. Sparta (and of course other clubs) get something out of public money. It’s nothing extreme for such a big club, but it’s taxpayers’ money.
https://www.hlidacstatu.cz/subjekt/46356801
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Daniel Slovák,2022-02-14 09:54:57
I really didn’t know that. I thought this wasn’t done in capitalism. Does it work the same way in Western countries with a football tradition? England, Holland and France I think.
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Josef Šoltes,2022-02-14 07:48:21
Maybe one day it will lead to gravity drives, artificial gravity or maybe inexhaustible drives of the ZPM type from the Stargate. Nobody just knows what this might be good for. Or it will save the human species from extinction one day.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Will there be cheaper bread? 🙂
D. Pear,2022-02-14 08:10:10
So far, it seems more that physics will never allow us to use artificial gravity, so Mr. Slovák will not allow research into black holes :-))
But for example, the “theory of everything” uniting quantum mechanics with the theory of relativity could refine our modeling and enable breakthroughs in many areas, including the 4 points listed by Mr. Slovak …
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