Re: [Vo]:How to confirm that a document at LENR-CANR.org is real

[Jed Rothwell]

Steven V Johnson wrote:

Mauro sez:

> This is a good summary.
> Maybe you could publish a version of it somewhere at lenr-canr.org. It
> surely will not hurt, and could help first comers with doubts about the
> validity of the sources and the information presented.

...

I agree!

Write it up, Jed!

I do not think I should. I do not like to feed the perception that 
cold fusion is disreputable or that we have something to apologize 
for. If people want to believe I faked the DIA document that's their 
business. As long as I am square with the DIA, I don't care what 
anyone else thinks. They were miffed with me on Wednesday morning but 
they are friendly people and judging by the tone of our recent 
correspondence all is forgiven. From the references to LENR-CANR.org 
in the DIA document you can see that they recognize the value of the 
site, and they consider it legitimate. They understand the value of 
uploading the document there. That's important. I care about how my 
reputation stands with intelligence experts in the U.S. government 
and with electrochemists. I do not care at all where my reputation 
stands with the editors at Wikipedia. On the contrary, I would be 
worried if those nitwit conformists show respect. They and other like 
them will come around when the New York Times and Scientific American 
do -- and not one day before.

Suppose I were running a website devoted to some other academic topic 
such as biology or 19th century Japanese literature. No one would 
demand my bona fides or question the provenance of the documents. 
There are controversial documents, alleged fakes, and strange claims 
in these fields. But readers would judge such matters for themselves 
using common sense and the techniques I described.

For example, in biology there was the suicide of neo-Lamarkian Paul 
Kammerer in 1926, caused by accusations of academic fraud. See A. 
Koestler, "The Case of the Midwife Toad" (Vintage, 1973). If I were 
running a biology site and I posted information about Kammerer, 
including documents asserting he was innocent, I would not expect to 
be called out, personally attacked, or banned from Wikipedia. . . . 
Then again, maybe I would. I suppose if the entire site were devoted 
to Kammerer I would expect flak.

- Jed