The LHC, Particle Physics, and You!

First off, there is absolutely no danger of the LHC killing the world. The Large Hadron Collider is the largest, most expensive, particle collider ever built. It takes the lead in particle physics out of the hands of the United States, where it's been since Oppenheimer. It's huge, it's awesome, and the best particle physicists in the world work there. They say it's safe, and they're the ones most likely to know.

The LHC is a $6 Billion experiment. Many people hope that it will reveal a new particle- called the Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson means there is a Higgs field, as quantum mechanical law says every field has a particle. The Higgs Field is a theoretical field that causes mass. It says that more interaction with the Higgs Field, the more massive the particle. Photons, which are very very fast and have very very little mass- virtually none- interact with the Higgs field very little. More massive particles interact more readily, hence their mass. It's a toss-up between who is more excited: The People Who Think They'll Find the Higgs Boson; and Those Who Do Not.

The Higgs Boson would mean the Standard Model (SM) works. Currently, the model has a placeholder where the Higgs Boson could go; but otherwise makes no predictions about mass. Mass isn't explained, despite 40 years of experiments based around the SM and using its predictive equations. If the Higgs Boson exists, it further proves the SM. That would leave Gravity as the next big hurdle for the SM.

If the Higgs Boson does not reveal itself, a bunch of old crap gets shitcanned and new physics must be invented to describe what we've already seen and what we expect to see. This is a very daunting, and extremely exciting, prospect. These new descriptors could make someone's career; but, more importantly, could reveal entirely new ways of thinking about- and looking at- the universe.

According to Wiki-Goodness:

The collider is currently undergoing commissioning while being cooled down to its final operating temperature of approximately 1.9 K (−271.25 °C). Initial particle beam injections were successfully carried out on 8-11 August, 2008, the first attempt to circulate a beam through the entire LHC is scheduled for 10 September 2008, and the first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled, on 21 October 2008.

(which you'd already know if you followed the links above)

So, here are my guesses. Guesses, not hypothesis because I do not have the adequate math skills to back this bullshit up. Without much further ado: No Higgs Boson. Why? Because as pretty and predictive as the SM may be, I think it's a kludge. It's a bunch of shit stuck together that works, and no one can really understand why. Which means that some piece of it is bullshit- more probably than not. I think the Higgs is the bullshit, and I'm curious to see where our smart people go from there. Though Gravity is too weak to interfere at high energies, I still think any sort of robost predictive analytic should account for all the particles AND all the forces. Quantum Gravity is hugely elusive, so I hope the LHC proves some of the extra dimensional spaces- despite the new wave of psychic/magic/religious bullshit that will bring on, despite conclusive proof to the contrary- and a begging is started.

To sum up:
1) No, Higgs
2) Yes, Extra Dimensions
3) Yes, understanding why Gravity is so weak.
4) Yes/No to Dark Matter- it's Dark Matter not just because we don't know what it is; but because it's too dark to see. That's not something that a particle accelerator can conclusively prove/disprove. Though experiments might reveal new understandings of what Dark Matter is composed of; it will not reveal what all Dark Matter is- nor will anything else, except going out there and seeing it (virtually impossible).

Those are my guesses- except number 4, which is- in actuality- a fact.