The LHC is designed to accelerate atoms to hyperspeeds and collide them together, on the theory that this breaks them apart into subatomic particles. It is hoped this will open the door to greater understanding of the nature of matter and the origins of the universe.
The problem is, just as with the atomic bomb, we aren't sure exactly what will happen. That is, we are advancing technology we don't fully understand. There have been some who say such a collider could open tiny black holes that swallow all the Earth, although true scientists don't believe this and it is more of a conspiracy theory. The ethical issue is how aggressively we should pursue this new technology if there is actually any danger of results that are harmful to humans. What if this technology, as with the atom bomb, can be used as or developed into a weapon?
This facililty also has a very large dollar cost attached to it, and one can argue that the potential scientific value of such research is not worth denying that kind of funding to other areas of human need, or other research that might be more valuable to advancing human interests.
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