[This may be a repeat message.]
See:
http://coldfusionnow.org/the-believers-the-movie/
This is depressing. This part is infuriating:
"Released in October, 2012 The Believers is a documentary that tracks
the dark side of the March 1989 announcement at the University of Utah
that two respected chemists had solved the world’s energy problems. . . .
There could not be a better modern example of a combination of hubris
and bad public relations for a product launch. Understanding what went
wrong makes this story worthy to be the central focus of courses in
marketing, or more precisely bad marketing, for years to come. . . ."
In other words, the movie (or this reviewer) blames the outcome on the
press conference. This is such tired nonsense! Such garbage. I could not
disagree more:
1. The press conference was fully professional. Most discoveries of this
nature at universities are presented this way.
2. The claims presented at the conference were understated, not exaggerated.
3. Nearly every claim was soon replicated and confirmed.
4. A peer-reviewed paper was published. That is why they held the press
conference.
5. In plasma fusion they often hold press conference to announce a
success just after a test run, and months or years before they publish a
paper!
6. In cancer research and other fields they routinely announce inflated
results that are never replicated or confirmed.
In other words, the people who accuse F&P of jumping the gun are the
ones who routinely do this.
In any case, the press conference was not the cause of the opposition to
cold fusion. That's preposterous The opposition is from willfully
ignorant, arrogant half-wits, and people in the plasma fusion program
protecting their turf and their funding.
- Jed
