Mark Iverson <[email protected]> wrote: Have to disagree with Jed's conclusions as to the extreme level of > opposition that this will face... >
Those are not conclusions so much as worst case scenarios. I think we should be prepared for a continuation of what we have seen for the past 22 years. However much we might hope that things will improve, let us prepare for more trouble. Years ago, I never would have imagined the extreme opposition at Nature and DoE would continue this long, in the face of experiment such as the ones at SRI, Energetics Tech. or the Italian labs, yet it *has* continued. It is unabated, as if these experiments never too place. Also as if the "60 Minutes" program was never broadcast. The opposition at Nature, and for that matter Wikipedia, is as strong as it was in the weeks after the announcement, when the professors at MIT were attacking the research in phone calls to the Boston papers. Not only is the opposition as strong as it was, the ignorance displayed by major scientists and editors is as powerful as it ever was. Like the Bourbon dynasty, they "learn nothing and forget nothing." I don't think there is any situation in the history of modern economics that > can compare with what is happening... > That is certainly true. > Sure, there are powerful centers that don't want to see this technology > make it to market... but there are 100 times that many powerful entities > that want to have a piece of the pie... > I hope so. But I do not think it would be wise for Rossi, or the rest of us, to count on that. I think we should marshal arguments and prepare to present our views, if the mass media calls. Let's face it, they are not likely to get a good initial impression of Rossi, from his blog or the way he talks. The field has suffered from the worst PR imaginable for 22 years, with researchers and others saying the wrong thing and giving the wrong impression time after time. For once, I would like to see us present the facts in a good light. And for once, I would like to see us prepared for an onslaught of opposition, rather than being caught with no response to the attacks, or with statements that seem to give credence to them. - Jed
