I have the same impression of the human condition, Alain. I think the
internet makes more obvious what was always the case, i.e. most people
are uninformed, irrational, and stubborn in their opinions. In the
past, this was only noticed in conversations at the local level. In
addition, past scientific discourse was slow and controlled to some
extent by peer review and social pressure. Now people can say or
publish anything they want on the internet, where even the most insane
can contribute. The danger comes when these opinions are used as
votes for or against a policy. For example, increasingly the media,
which is under the influence of the power structure, is selecting
comments to broadcast that fit their agenda regardless of how much
knowledge the source might have. As a result, ignorance is amplified.
As for LENR, this subject brings out the crazies and the ignorant in
the same way a religious or political discussion on the internet does
this. For this reason, for the most part I have given up contributing
to any discussion. Instead, I'm writing another book that hopefully
will bring a few more facts about LENR to the attention of decision
makers.
Meanwhile, certain very real facts are true. LENR is real and it will
eventually be applied to make practical energy. This energy source
will produce economic damage to the present power sources, which is
one very real and rational reason why the claims for LENR are
rejected. Meanwhile, the rest of us will have to learn to cope with
the damage the present energy sources produce while LENR is slowly
understood well enough to make this ideal energy a commercial product.
As has been observed many times; a few people can be brilliant but
society in general is as dumb as a rock. This can be seen from the
comments made about any subject on the internet. So, nothing has
changed - instead what has always been real has just been made more
obvious.
Ed
On Nov 21, 2013, at 1:37 AM, Alain Sepeda wrote:
I'm sorry to bother you Ed, but you are my peer-review ...
What learned from you all, it is that yes it is a hard job, with
many pitfall...
problem is that pitfall are on bothsides, and some think they don't
need to check their claims.
Maybe you don't see it, but something is happening.
the most funny is that more and more cold fusion is cited as example
of pathological science, by people absolutely uninformed. What is
shocking for me, a tech-watcher, is the level of misinformation and
more than that, the inability to update data either when I give a
name, or even a link...
Today it take 15 minutes seconds to update some data on a subject,
know the controversies (it takes months to check however)
I relay your answer. with a big thanks.
2013/11/21 Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com>
Ed Storms wrote:
Where does this person get his information, Alain?
Wikipedia!
- Jed
