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There is a controversy among scientists as to whether a colossal new particle accelerator outside of Geneva could produce a black hole that might grow to annihilate the Earth. Slated to begin operations in Spring 2009, the Large Hadron Collider is a project of the multinational CERN consortium and is the result of billions of dollars in spending and decades of planning and construction.

Despite the obvious ramifications for everybody on the planet should a black hole be produced, many scientists seem to have the attitude that any controversy about safety should be settled among scientists ? engaging one another in argument ? and not in the court of public opinion or among lawyers and judges in a court of law.

The desire among scientists to keep the controversy from being vetted by laity is an intriguing aspect of the story of the LHC and the controversy about its safety. There is an inclination ? both inside and outside of CERN ? toward what might be called a limited-form scientocracy, a regime in which the community of scientists alone has the authority to determine what experiments will be run, regardless of alleged public hazards.

Such an attitude is in evidence in a colloquium talk given by decorated physicist John Ellis. The purpose of the August 2008 presentation was, in part, to give fellow scientists ?the tools to convince other people that the LHC is safe.?1

In his talk, Ellis expressed in various ways a concern about the potential of the law and judicial process to interfere with particle-physics experimentation. Particularly interesting was hearing him talk about Richard Posner, whose 2004 book, Catastrophe, discussed the possibility of Earth being destroyed by a ?stranglet? disaster ? a scenario some feared from the now-active Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider on Long Island, New York.

?This guy, I find really worrying,? Ellis said about Posner.2 Using a slide show, Ellis flagged for his audience Posner?s suggestion that high-energy physics experimentation should perhaps be subject to a federal catastrophic-risk-assessment board and Posner?s view that a ?scientifically literate legal profession? should be involved in adjudicating science-intensive controversies.

?This, I think, is not a particularly encouraging trend,? Ellis said.3

It is unfortunate that anyone would find the prospect of judicial review discouraging.

Overall, the Ellis colloquium would seem to indicate a pervasive belief among high-energy physicists that lawyers and judges have no proper place in investigating and reviewing their experimental undertakings. If that is true, such a standpoint constitutes a substantial and direct threat to a cherished bedrock concept of modern society, the rule of law.

Throughout history, various groups have tried to exploit imbalances in political or economic power to undermine the rule of law. But the modern experimental-science juggernaut wields a very different sort of power, one that arises from a knowledge gap.

When it comes to a question such as whether the LHC might plausibly create a black hole, particle physicists can easily claim that no one, other than one of their own, has the depth of understanding required to weigh in. Ellis, for his part, does not make this claim explicitly, but he hardly needs to. Indeed, at Ellis?s talk, the phrase ?scientifically literate legal profession? was met with a hearty chortle from the crowd.4

The argument that no one but scientists can understand science, so no one but scientists should exercise control over experimentation, is not only an easy argument to make, it is too easy. Acceptance of such a view effectively vitiates the rule of law for a category of human activity which is potentially of ultimate importance. Thus, this ground should not be conceded. While the knowledge gap provides a tremendous challenge to providing meaningful and fair judicial review of leading-edge scientific research, it should not be permitted to bar the involvement of the courts.

But apart from the knowledge gap, John Ellis and his colleagues at CERN have another, blunter instrument for preventing the public and the courts from making up their own minds about the LHC program: They plan to render the debate moot by turning the machine on.

?The way to stop all this argument about whether the LHC is going to destroy the planet is to get the LHC working,? Ellis said.5

Perhaps the LHC really is quite harmless. But planning to win a debate about its safety with a fait accompli is bereft of propriety.

It is apropos to mention here a comment I received to my first post in this series. A self-identified scientist wrote to me, ?I think you're putting shocking little faith in scientists.?

The word ?faith? is ironic in this context. To profess faith in science is to pay it a dubious compliment. Yet, the use of the word is not, I think, misplaced. The commenter, perhaps unintentionally, ends up raising a very good question. Is that what CERN is asking all non-scientists to do? To put faith in them?

There?s a close connection between the biblical definition of faith and the implicit claim being made by CERN. ?Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,? Hebrews 11:1 says, ?the evidence of things not seen.?

Indeed, the meaning of the arguments and equations of particle physicists are, for nearly all of us, well hidden from sight. They lie behind a veil that would take years of training in mathematics and science to penetrate, at which point, of course, the debate will be moot. So, for all of us standing outside the community of particle physicists, what should be our basis of belief in their claims?

I would submit that if we are to believe the conclusions of the particle-physics community about safety, our belief must be rooted in a favorable appraisal of the soundness of their decision-making, the demonstrated trustworthiness of their dealing with those outside the community, and the impartiality and rigor of their risk-assessment methods. Judicial process can investigate whether these hallmarks of veracity exist in this case. And that is why scientific endeavor, like all other human activity, must be subordinate to the rule of law.

I believe in science. I believe in the scientific method. I even believe in the good intentions of the scientific community. But ?faith in scientists? is another matter.

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Notes
1 John Ellis, colloquium talk, August 14, 2008, at elapsed time 1:57.
2 Id. at 54:35.
3 Id. at 56:16.
4 Id. at 56:00.
5 Id. at 62:31.

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