OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson <[email protected]> wrote:
> It seems to me that Mr. Krivit has attempted to present himself as an > investigative reporter cutting through all the bull sh*t in order to > get to the nittygritty of controversial subjects. I question the need for investigative reporting in academic science. If a claim is true, it will remain true. If it is false, it makes little difference to me whether it is a mistake or a lie. The personalities and peccadilloes of the researchers are irrelevant. Most of them are dull people. About on par with programmers. Does anyone see a need for "investigative reports" of leading Linux programmers? Linus Torvalds is the only colorful one in the bunch, and he's not exactly Hollywood. I see the need for hard-hitting investigations of business deals or politics because real money and real power is at stake. But who cares what physicists or programmers do? I also see no need for "breaking news." News seldom breaks in cold fusion. Physics moves at the same pace as farming. The shortest meaningful segment of time is a growing season. When cold fusion becomes big business, with thousands of researchers and investors, and real money on the scale of semiconductor research ($130 million per day) *then* there will be breaking news. Then we will need trade magazines, business section special reports, investigations, scandal sheets and rumor mills. There will be ample opportunity for politics, thieves and scoundrels. As things stand today, "investigating" cold fusion -- or for that matter stealing information about it -- is a lot like smuggling ordinary paperback books out of the public library. You don't have to do that. You just take the books to the front desk and hand them your library card. They let you take home as many as you like. - Jed
