I was talking with a friend of mine about technology, and how it advances at an exponential rate. He then brought up an interesting point; in order for technology to advance, research into that field of technology is required. For example, if William Gilbert had not wrote about how electricity affects different objects, coining the term "electricity" as well as electric force, magnetic poles, and electric attraction, the study of static electricity may not have started until much later than 1660 BCE. I may not be typing this up if that were the case, since the study of static electricity led to the study of electric forces and controlling those forces. My point is this: when does the knowledge gained from researching something reach the level of application? How about a modern day example: People all over the world are worrying about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). As we start looking deeper and deeper into the start of our universe, and begin messing around with those beginnings, the dangers of something cataclysmic happening may increase greatly (please note that I am not trying to give a "doomsday speech," I am all for scientific advancement, this is just an interesting viewpoint in my opinion). As a species, if we wish to advance technology, we can't simply use the knowledge that we discover through research without a proper way to use it; it would be like trying to take a nuclear bomb and using it to power a car - the results could be quite disastrous. To sum it up, I'll leave it at this; at what point should knowledge of the universe gained through research and study be put into application? Do you think that delving too deeply into knowledge without know-how is dangerous? I'm curious to see what everyone's opinion on this matter is. Cheers, IndorilTheGreat