CERN ought to be a leader in sharing, going out of its way to teach the whole human species, not just a few ten thousands
CERN ought to be a leader in sharing, going out of its way to teach the whole human species, not just a few ten thousands — There are two ways something can be proprietary on the Internet. The whole can exist, but keys to use it are kept so only a few can access it. Or the whole can exist in a form that is so difficult to access that effectively it is only accessible to a few, therefore proprietary (accessible to only a few). I do not have a term for the Internet that captures the main feature of my criticism so well as proprietary (in the sense of only accessible by insiders or close associates). The terms, closed and open are descriptive but too blunt and ignore that the reason something is closed is usually because a group closes it, or they neglect to put sufficient effort to make it open.
I have been at this for 2/3 of my life now and I am 75. I doubt I will change anyone’s way of speaking or doing things. I write a few comments here and there, and try to explain some of the issues I see, and try to explain why they are important, at least to me.
Overall when I trace sites on the Internet I can usually find ways to access the information, even if the site is badly written. When there are many deliberate locks and barriers, I simply label it “proprietary” and that could have the overtone of “too much trouble to bother”. There is a little bit of information at CERN that is accessible, that is not available elsewhere, but if it takes even someone with a universal training in all subjects like me a lot of time, then pity the 2 billion children from 4 to 24. Many of whom now could apply tools to what is there, but “why bother if it is such a lot of trouble”.
Check. See if ALL the logins are open to all 5.2 Billion Internet users. I think you will find the bureaucratic systems on the site are so highly biased to those who are working or enrolled in “approved higher education and government agencies” almost everyone is excluded. Even if you trace the current users to a few hundred thousand, that is NOT billions.
Much of the stuff on CERN is highly biased to the interests and passions of a few investigators and administrators. The information they are interested in, takes all priorities. The information that is stored, archived, shared is what they want, not what is available raw from all sensors. The whole goals of CERN are “bigger”. The projects sold because they are mysterious and “only understandable to a few big minds who win Nobel prizes and such”. The countries have to support it, because the Emperor has new clothes and not one is allowed to say it is the wrong direction.
That attitude permeates all related organizations and prevents communication and understanding, except by a few insiders. Certainly CERN has done little to help make atomic and nuclear energy accessible to all. If they were doing a good job, then they would understand those energies, and help the human species use them, not keep smashing things and showing bumps – everyone chasing a few prizes that only insiders can win.
My voice and opinions mean nothing. I no longer even bother. I am just writing this for my own notes.
What I want to see is the noise in the experiments. And the errors are all parts per thousand, with a few precise experiments where, unfortunately, the documentation is not complete or accessible.
I am working on “all languages” and “site:nih.gov” and “site:wikipedia.org” now. It will take me much of the rest of the year, and I have already invested years. I do not consider CERN a high priority. It only does things that no one else can verify, and only a few can do that. The questions are all wrong, when you exclude billions and only allow ten thousands. Fundamentally wrong for the species. I did download CERN Root and have been examining it just as I have many hundreds of the largest “open” projects. But it is badly structured and bloated, just like most things on GitHub and similar sites. Sharing with all humans is harder but not impossible.
I wanted to see the low energy data from nano_eV to 10 MeV. And errors in every device at ppb. Most all the calibration data is locked. Not accessible without insiders help.
Richard Collins, The Internet Foundation
