The largest scientific machine ever constructed, the Large Hadron Collider outside of Geneva, will be releasing the first significant results later this summer. The data from this experiment could have a dramatic effect on our beliefs about the origin of matter, the properties of space and time, and the mysterious contents of the Universe. In this talk, I will describe the Large Hadron Collider and explain why we do such experiments. I will also talk about the underlying rules of Nature, governed by Quantum Field Theory, and describe some of the fantastical things we hope to see: dark matter, supersymmetry, or extra dimensions. Finally, I will describe the historical context of this moment in science and the uncertainty of the future direction of fundamental physics.
