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Higgs boson: the particle of faith (Alister McGrath)
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Here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8956938/Higgs-boson-the-particle-of-faith.htmlPeople believe in the existence of the Higgs boson, even without explicit "proof" of its existence, because of its explanatory power.Belief in God can be similar. (Surprisingly, CS Lewis doesn't get quoted!)Quite a nice article, I reckon.(The pun would work even better if there were 39 particles in the standard model!)
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So today, from CERN, we have far stronger evidence for the Higgs boson, since something has been detected with the predicted mass and decay products, with a high degree of certainty. How nice for Higgs that his prediction has been confirmed in his own lifetime. (He turned 83 in May, I gather.) And so the Standard Model soldiers on. Would be good if Higgs gets a Nobel for this, while he's still with us.But of course even the new evidence is indirect, in the same sort of way that it is for the existence of atoms and molecules. So strictly speaking you still need a modicum of faith to believe in the "God particle".
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Do we ever experience anything directly? It always takes a modicum of faith to believe that my sensations correspond to something real outside of myself.
