3) Let's say that a judge buys the "IP" argument, so now the industry bod is showing how at the same time a movie was being downloaded, it was also being uploaded as well. So... how did you come via that data? To obtain such data you would have required access to data from my computer, and permission to access that has never been granted by me. That would mean an offence has been committed in collecting the "evidence", and thus it would be dismissed from the case.

CERN doesn't care about my opinion? How would you know that?

For all you know I'll be responsible for influencing the decision.

CERN *should* care about me and the millions like me who are asking for reasonable justification before we commit to billions in equipment for more research.

IF they tick off enough folks like me though dismissive folks like you, it might be a long time before they get funding for their new toy.

I just want to do what's best here

advancements in areas like chemistry and biology could pay off more directly in huge ways

Once you get one level below the three base subatomic particles, there isn't much to be gained that applies to chemistry...

Rarely does anything happen in the biological world that requires the huge energies of even a small collider.

[...] But we are not even close to such energies in the "natural biological world" so I simply think you are not understanding what you talk about, even at the elementary level.