At 07:17 PM 3/19/2010, Jed Rothwell wrote:
I just realized I know Prof. Goodstein. Rob Duncan invited him to the seminar at U. Missouri last May. This book was published in January 2010. So, Goodstein has been made aware of facts about cold fusion, and he ignored them. What a travesty!
Lighten up, Jed. It can take a long time for a book to appear. Should he have intervened? Why? The book, *as it is*, is a positive force for the encouragement of cold fusion research. It makes the important and central recognition: there is something to this research, it cannot be dismissed as fraud or clear delusion.
That he showed up a U. Missouri is a huge step; compare this with the pseudoskeptics, Jed. Maybe you should have a talk with him, but I'd suggest calming down first! "Travesty" is pretty dramatic.
It's not a travesty, these are shallow and superficial comments, made as personal observations, probably before that seminar, and they are clearly sympathetic to cold fusion research. He's not condemning it as pathological science, explicitly saying that it isn't fraud. He's saying that the research should be treated seriously, and some of what is seen as negative is simply reporting common opinion.
Look, to connect with those holding the common opinion, you must appear to be with them, at first. Yeah, I can see why you are so skeptical. Not reproduced, anybody would be skeptical.
Except, well, there are these 153 reproductions published in peer-reviewed journals. Of course, they are doing different experiments, I can understand why you'd remain skeptical, I see the problem.
However, there is one finding that is reproduced, and that the experimental designs differ is actually a factor that makes this more conclusive: using different designs, in palladium deuteride, whether or not helium is found and the amount found is very well correlated with measured excess heat. That's reproduction, just not exact reproduction, it's reproduction of a different kind, confirming process evidence. Would you look at that?
It's basic communication technique. Start with agreement. Where would you start, Jed? With "You're crazy!" How well does that work? Has it ever worked? Once?
"You're crazy" can work with some people once rapport is established. Not where it hasn't been.
