>who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.
Which of course makes them not new, I didn't know Machiavelli had such a good sense of humor, I guess he saw some advantage in it. On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 8:16 AM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > Lennart Thornros <[email protected]> wrote: > > In my experience the 'truth' about LENR cannot be told to any group. One >> need to convince one at a time. >> > > Yes. For the reasons described by James Bowery: because human nature and > education prevent "the vast majority of the population from any possibility > of recognizing the reality of LENR . . ." Finding supporters is like like > looking for a needle in a haystack. That is the way it has always been, and > probably always will be. There is no point to complaining about it, or > wishing it were otherwise. We have to take people as they are. We have > start with society as it is and change the trajectory of things a little. > > As Margaret Mead put it: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, > committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that > ever has." > > Because potential supporters are few and far between, there is no point to > going out and proselytizing to individuals, or writing letters. You have > make the information available on the Internet and then hope that people > will read what you have to say instead of reading Wikipedia or the *Scientific > American*. A few people will. People download 4,000 to 8,000 papers a > week from LENR-CANR.org, depending on the time of year and the academic > schedule at universities. > > I tend to see this problem as rooted in our primate nature. We are afraid > of novelty, for good reason. Machiavelli described the problem in terms of > society (which is another way of looking what I call "primate nature"): > > "It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in > hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to > take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the > innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old > conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. > This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws > on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily > believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them." > > - Jed > >
