Nice one. Unfortunately, #1 and #2 are very nearly contradictory too as Republican presidents have been more willing to scale back funding for novel physics projects than Democrats. A few years ago, Fermilab was on the cusp of developing a new method for detecting the Higgs Boson, and Bush chopped funding for the project. If I were God-fearing, I would be scared too: Discovering the Higgs Boson particle will likely mean discovering the true, natural origin of mass. Veritas.galahad85 wrote: #2 and #3 contradict each other.
The last time a president gave funding for a mega-physics discovery was when the president commissioned a few scientists at the U of C to develop and execute the world's first nuclear reaction. Shortly thereafter, Enrico Fermi was toasting a glass of champagne with his fellow scientists underground, beneath the football field, having sustained the first controlled nuclear reaction on that site. When asked why everyone looked so somber in the photos, one of the scientists replied that in the moment there was a feeling of great glee, but a feeling of immense dread as well, as they knew the world had been changed forever, and not solely for the greater good.
Little did the scientists (including Fermi himself) know that the government had secretly planted explosive-resistant recording devices around the University of Chicago's campus. The government was worried that the reaction might terminate in catastrophe, bringing a quick end to America's newest great university. Likewise, researchers are worried that the Large Hadron Collider might create a black hole, which might devour the earth. In fact, small black holes are probably going to be created, but not one that is large enough to devour the planet. To be sure, they have conducted probability analyses on the likelihood that such an event might occur.
If it does, then #3 and #1 are possibly contradictory as well.
-HL
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