We are being treated to a general breakdown in intellectual integrity
these days in a wide range of subjects. We see this most clearly in
science, not just cold fusion, because this subject has objective ways
to decide what is true and what is not. As a result, when people are
found to have lied about their results or published fraudulent
information, they are punished. People who reject ideas for
fraudulent reasons are not punished because the only standard by which
they can be judged is integrity, which cannot be applied as a law.
We see a similar analogy in the financial system. If a person robs a
bank, he is punished, because a law has been broken. However, if the
banker robs society, he is rewarded. This behavior can only be
controlled by integrity. When this essential control is missing from
society or from a profession, both eventually collapse. So, I suggest
everyone who demands a change insist that integrity be applied at all
levels, but especially in science.
Ed
On Apr 26, 2009, at 5:24 PM, William Beaty wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2009, William Beaty wrote:
If any CF supporter should ever be even slightly dishonest, it's
the most disgusting thing imaginable, right? It damns the entire
CF community! But if a CF skeptic pulls the sort of dishonest ploy
that Garwin does ...it means that he's "only human."
Also, in the last few months I've noted several instances of people
excusing dishonest tactics with phrases like "scientists are just
human."
Beware, since this is new example of a known dishonest tactic:
spinning of near-criminal acts by applying a label which subtly
carries forgiveness. It's very typical of verbal tricks used by the
past presidential administration too, no? To drive home the point,
let me go overboard and label the act of rape as: "boys will be
boys." Or I could perhaps change your opinion of a known murderer
by saying "it's just his way?"
:)
If you don't realize that it's happening, the spinning of lies and
coverups is seductive, since we ourselves might be tempted to excuse
even the most dishonest of anti-CF bigotry as "just people people
being human."
Hey Steve K, you say in http://www.newenergytimes.com/v2/reports/ColdFusionProblem.shtml
that "The cold fusion problem is not a science problem; it was, and
still is, a human problem." This phrase creeped me out when I read
it weeks ago, and only today I realized why.
When scientists try to cover their mistakes with dishonest tricks
and spin tactics, it might be wise to avoid describing the situation
as a "human problem," since it carries the suggestion: "it's OK,
since they're only human."
If the problem is with corrupt experts, with physicists being
dishonest, there must be some way to say just that. For the same
reason, we'd never describe a corrupt government by saying "it's not
a government problem, it's a human problem."
(((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb at amasci com http://amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair
Seattle, WA 206-762-3818 unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci
