In the context of physics this is not clickbait. It is an actual nightmare for physics because they have spent years and billions building this extremely complex machine. The fact that they are not seeing new physics means that they did all this work to verify the existence of a single particle. Beyond that they are not discovering anything new. It's a nightmare because it tells you that even if you build a bigger more powerful machine you may not see anything new. If you aren't going to see anything new, you can't justify building it. Also the machine required to see new physics might have to be so large that it's not practical to build. It means the end of the road for this kind of particle physics. It also means that theoretically we've been at a dead end for a long time.
No, it's not clicbait. This is an accurate description of the current scenario from the point of view of her discipline. Although, I suppose it's not that obvious if one is not familiar with physics.
This isn't clickbait. Do you see any ads on this page?
This is an accurate characterization of the worst outcome (that doesn't involve space aliens) that scientists were worried about when the LHC launched.
Well, more so, they have a pretty clear definition of what they mean by "nightmare scenario"; it would have nice to have their claim much earlier in the article followed by the rest of the history, but I really wouldn't call it clickbait. But I can really see why it's considered a "nightmare" given what the article is suggesting. Like, clickbait is shitty, but this case really isn't. It is eyecatching though.
I'd say "see what happens next!" is clickbait even if the page has no ads and actually does show what happens next. When "nightmare scenario" turns out to mean "not much has happened", that's at least borderline clickbait. But at least the article was substantive. I don't think people would hate sensational headlines so much if the content lived up to expectations.
I do understand what you're saying, in that overt eye-catching and curiosity tweaking headlines that are intentionally misleading are bad and certainly clickbait.
In this instance, however, I think it's more of a question of there being a big question as to "what is the nightmare scenario"; each part of the article is relevant to this question, explaining the state of the particle physics and the build up towards the apparent disappointment with the results from the LHC research.
Nightmare scenario is being fairly specific here; it's not really in the same field as "See what happens next" or "You won't believe what happens" in my mind since those have no substance or real connection to their content. This article headline is very attention grabbing, since we're not sure what the LHC Nightmare Scenario is. However, the article substantiates the title. It provides the author's reasons specifically why the current status of LHC research is in a nightmare scenario.
The title is provocative, yes, but I feel that conflating provocative with "Clickbait" is disingenuous. Some of the most famous headlines in history have arguably been clickbait by that metric, yet they're not held to the same scrutiny.
> since we're not sure what the LHC Nightmare Scenario is.
I disagree. I believe that the intended audience of this article, people familiar with what the LHC has been up to, what it's goals were, who are keeping up with current events, like knowing that the diphoton bump has vanished, would immediately recognize what the article would be about. I did at least. It seems completely unfair to say "This article doesn't cater to HN" and then accuse the author of engaging in sensationalistic clickbait, especially when HN doesn't trust submitters to provide more context in headlines.
This lack of context is because, it appears, most HN readers are more familiar with the actual clickbait headlines from media outlets proclaiming "Mini Blackholes may destroy the earth!", "Strangelets could destroy the earth!", "The LHC will start the Zombie Apocalypse!", than the actual concerns of scientists. Again, this seems monstrously unfair that actual clickbait has set the conversation, and people who actually are talking about the actual 'nightmare scenario' are now accused of clickbait.
Not all nightmares are about monsters chasing you. A lot of them are showing up to class in your underwear, or trying to find that report that you know should be on the table. I would not be surprised that several physicists have in fact had actual nightmares of this exact scenario.
I'm a little confused as to whom specifically you're responding to.
I'm not sure where the idea of "this article doesn't cater to HN" and the following accusation comes from in relation to the thread that was being discussed.
I do agree with you that it's unfair to call it clickbait, that there's a large difference between a provocative headline and a clickbait headline. Personally I'm not familiar enough with the going-ons of the LHC to really comment intelligently on the research, so I have and will hold off on that.
The LHC is a multi billion dollar project designed specifically to help physicists build physical models that are more accurate than what currently exists. Countless man-years have been devoted to its operation. Apparently, the only thing it has done is confirm what we already knew decades ago. The nightmare scenario is the waste of billions of dollars and a decade of your life, with no alternatives in sight. Remember, the article is from the perspective of a theoretical physicist. This stuff is her life.
It would be more precise to say that it didn't show us anything we didn't already know (other than the Higgs). There are various indications that the Standard Model is not the whole story but the LHC gave no hints whatsoever on what directions to explore next. In that sense, it was wasted money.
It isn't really clickbait, though it sure feels like one. There's a clear definition of LHC "nightmare scenario" in the article, and it apparently wasn't made up for the article itself. I agree with 'csydas though, it would be better if the meaning of that term was explained earlier in the text - but maybe the regular audience of this blog already know what it means.
I think most people that has followed particle physics for the last few years had a quite good idea already from the headline what the post would be about.
what is clickbait, is the comment section where people only read the headline, and think of black hole as the nightmare scenario.
Just read through the blogpost, must be one of the rare ones, as the commenter above me as well explained so eloquently this is nightmare scenario, there is no new guidance and particle physicists are not going in other directions they still waiting to see some sort of super symmetry or some kind of evidence of string theory, the field is lacking new ideas.