Back Off, Man, I'm a Scientist

No, not me, but I think this guy is a scientist.

We’ve heard the rumors. Now for the news physics nerds have been waiting for: the “official” discovery of the Higgs Boson. But something is gnawing at me like children on my lawn: this whole “God Particle” business.

Don’t get me wrong. Science — and physics, in particular — is filled with bad naming conventions: The big bang was neither big nor a bang; the “color” of a quark or a gluon has nothing to do with what they actually look like; even ”spin”has staggeringly less to do with a gyroscope than you might have at first guessed. And while the Higgs deserves our respect, “God Particle” is just going too far.

Seriously. What’s wrong with you people?

I promise this isn’t turning into a physics blog. Not just because it is not my area of expertise, but also because I really don’t know anything about it. I did study the physics of sound waves. I think particle physics is different. I may be wrong. In any case, I just find it interesting, especially since I know an ignoramus who tried to argue that the Higgs totally explains the origins and secret philosophical truths of the universe. His basis for that assertion is the God particle hyperbole. In other words, mostly I’m just studying so as to obliterate his arguments and sharing my discoveries with you because science. Also, I watched a few minutes of Ghostbusters recently and I wanted to use that line. Do read the entire linked article. Like Stay Puft, it’s good stuff.

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