I’m guessing you’ve read about the Large Hadron Collider, a $9B project funded by CERN. If not – here is the latest.
I’m guessing that you may have also read The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs…or maybe have a general awareness that 1/6 of the world lives on less than $1.25 per day…or at least have seen a Sally Struthers commercial.
Frankly, I’m having a hard time reconciling the 2.
It isn’t that I’m opposed to research, science, seeking the truths that may unravel the complex questions of our existence, etc. On the contrary, I can think of few other causes more worthwhile than applied scientific research…one of which happens to be ending one of the most pressing and solvable issues of our time.
I’m currently about 1/4 of the way through Sachs’ book, hence the departure from my typically pointless programming. I’ve felt a mix of emotions – mainly embarrassment – with every page I’ve turned. I have such relative wealth and opportunity to the developing word, yet I squander so much of my time and resources on the remarkably insignificant.
Maybe I’ll get my act together and figure out a way to do something about it. Maybe the Big Bang Machine will lead to world-changing discoveries…or maybe it won’t.
Either way, I can’t help but think that there are better ways to invest our time, money, and minds.
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Living in Bolivia for two years made me, upon returning to the States, live this dilemma everyday. Even at my crappy $8/hr part-time college jobs I would constantly think of what this kind of money would mean to all the people I knew so well down there. After ten years you would think I would get over it, but I haven’t, and don’t think I ever will, and frankly I shouldn’t. It makes me appreciate everything I have more than I ever would and hits me with large bouts of guilt on occasion as well. I know I need to do something for people in Bolivia…just not sure what and how yet…but I will.
Careful. You teeter on the edge of a very slippery slope. I pay $15 more per month for my car because I wanted the one with the sunroof and and bigger wheels. Would that money be better used in about 1,500 better places each month? Hell yes.
I don’t disagree with you though. Priorities are so far out of whack in the developed world. For example, what would the world look like if we had diverted all the money, time and effort spent in Iraq to impoverished areas of the world. Or even to rehab our public school system?
LHC is the biggest toy kit the world has ever seen. Let’s hope something worth 9b comes from it.
PS – From this post, I hope you apply your mind and education to a real problem in the world…we don’t need another Facebook that badly.
Yeah, I mean I would go for he bigger rims and sunroof too…