I think that the value system of the so called scientists and journalists that
were involved in the P-F discrediting episode is inconsistent with what Jed
implies they possessed--in other words scientist and journalist values.
It seems to me they had values of capitalists and money grubbers and little, if
any, scientist and journalist values. Their values were to cover up nature's
real face and spread false ideas. They were not at fault. They were simply
acting in their best interests and according to their values. Lies and
propaganda were appropriate actions based on their values. And the acceptance
of such values has not decreased in the corporate world and independent
scientific community, but it has increased with time IMHO.
They were vassals of the "science kings" and did not want to kill the goose
that gave them their golden eggs.
I think this undesirable value system is a political issue that should be
addressed--the sooner the better for civilization. Gay marriage does not hold
a candle to the importance of this issue in my mind, yet it seems to get more
attention in the press and by politicians--what a travesty. Again it is
consistent with journalist and political values unfortunately.
Bob Cook
----- Original Message -----
From: Jed Rothwell
To: vortex-l@eskimo.com
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2015 6:58 AM
Subject: Re: [Vo]:The Ahmed Mohamed case and distrust of experts
Alain Sepeda <alain.sep...@gmail.com> wrote:
The problem of cold fusion was incompetence of the particle and plasma
physicist in calorimetry.
These people were in fact not totally incompetent, just not enough to
understanf Fleischmann&pon and trust calorimetry, but too much to be modest and
not to imagine artifacts from their armchair.
I agree.
I think there was plenty of blame to go around: it was not only the fault of
the science journalists or the physicists. However, I think a larger share of
the blame goes to science journalists and especially the editors of Nature
magazine. In an academic dispute you will find scientists lining up on both
sides, including incompetent scientists to pontificate about things outside
their own expertise. A journal such as Nature or Scientific American should
make an effort to present both sides of the dispute. That did not happen with
cold fusion.
As Mike Melich says, to this day, the US is letting the editors of Nature
decide our energy policy.
- Jed
