Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 07 April 2008 19:30
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
An online report is suggesting a ‘superfast’ Internet will allow movie
downloads in seconds, thanks to data collection capabilities needed for
the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator that some fear will
destroy the Earth.
So, do you want your superfast Internet, or Planet Earth to blow up? We might have both for a few milliseconds if Earth being destroyed it true, but if not, then megafast broadband is certainly desirable, with a scientific project behind the latest need for Internet speed.
The UK’s Times Online has
published a story on how a new “grid” computing project, designed to capture data from CERN’s (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) new Large Hadron Collider or LHC, the world’s largest particle accelerator due to be switched on in the European summer – or in other words, soon.
The LHC will be the “world’s largest and most complex scientific instrument”. According to
New Scientist Magazine, “Campaigners in the US are attempting to delay the start-up of the world's most powerful particle smasher with a lawsuit claiming it could spawn dangerous particles or mini black holes that will destroy the entire Earth.”
Of course, CERN scientists say this won’t happen, but no-one will really know until the LHC is turned on.
The Times Online article quotes David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a ‘leading figure in the grid project’, as saying that the grid technology being usedf to capture data from the LHC project “could revolutionise society”, saying specifically that: “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine”.
Of course, we need to not be blown up first to enjoy this revolution, but as the scientists assure us that will never happen, movie downloads in mere seconds – here we come! For more details, please read the linked articles above.
So... all of this sounds great, but how realistic is it that consumers will get this technology anytime soon? Please read onto page 2.
