Quote Originally Posted by bluefinger View Post
Well then, it is simply a statistical probability on what theory is correct. First of all, how stable are strangelets? Secondly, are they stable enough to cause a exponential cascade? And thirdly, can they be created at all? However, strangelets were proposed as a hypothesis, and have yet to be observed at all.

And mini-black holes, again, does the extent of the Hawking Radiation cause the black hole to either evaporate before it can be detected, or would it not be enough or non-existant in order to deplete the mini-black hole before it can accumulate to dangerous levels.

Those two problems all work on the assumption of the worst case scenario. To be honest, it would constitute a very, very small percentage, but if this percentage is significant enough, then yeah, there are ethical problems. But then again, when they tested the first nuke, there were concerns the energy of the explosion would ignite the atmosphere, but that never happened.
Exactly

Most likley, they will produce a number of very small things, at a huge cost with not much actual benefit to the world.

But then, if you've ever read discworld "Million to one chances happen nine times out of ten" so, we'll see what happens come May!