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> never about what should be funded instead. This isn't entirely true. In this blog post (http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2019/04/does-world-need-larger-par
by robonerd 5y ago
> never about what should be funded instead.
This isn't entirely true. In this blog post (http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2019/04/does-world-need-larger-particle.html http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2019/04/does-world-need-lar...) she recommends:
> "One of the key motivations for building a larger particle collider that particle physicists like to bring up is that we still do not know what dark matter is made of. But we are not even sure that dark matter is made of particles. And if it’s a particle, we do not know what mass it has or how it interacts. If it’s a light particle, you would not look for it with a bigger collider. So really it makes more sense to collect more information about the astrophysical situation first. That means concretely better telescopes, better sky coverage, better redshift resolution, better frequency coverage, and so on."
Though she goes on to say
> "But really my intention here is not to advocate a particular alternative. I merely think that physicists should have an honest debate about the evident lack of progress in the foundations of physics and what to do about it."
- SiempreViernes 5y ago> better telescopes, better sky coverage, better redshift resolution, better frequency coverage And all of this is being built currently or already exists (ELT, ASSN, Vera Rubin, SKA, CTA), so it's not clear what she's advocating.
- robonerd 5y agoPresumably "more of that." Would cosmologists really turn away even more funding? I can't imagine so.
- SiempreViernes 5y agoIt's not like there are a lot of idling cosmologist for lack of instruments right now, you'd really need to expand the set of tenured positions within the field if you'd want anyone to actually use a second Vera Rubin. So "more of that" isn't a very useful position, science output isn't a linear, or even monotonous function of dollars spent.