On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 10:27 AM, Joshua Cude <joshua.c...@gmail.com> wrote:
I wrote: > But some claims, if real, can be demonstrated in a simple and obvious way. CF and heavier than air flight are two examples. When such demonstrations should be possible but are absent, and there is no reproducibility, theoretical consistency, or scientific consensus, then it is reasonable to reject the claims until better evidence comes along. I should add that even if some people consider the results to be reproducible and theoretically consistent (which is certainly the case), the absence of a simple demonstration, when one is possible, would still be cause for skepticism. It would be as if the Wright brothers had gone to France and showed everyone charts and graphs and publications indicating measurements of altitude, and time aloft, and routes flown and so on. Even if they were right, people would be forgiven for being skeptical if they refused or were unable to *show* them. Koonin made the same point back in 1989, when he quoted Aesop's fable, The Leap at Rhodes: *A certain man who visited foreign lands could talk of little when he returned to his home except the wonderful adventures he had met with and the great deeds he had done abroad.* ** *One of the feats he told about was a leap he had made in a city Called Rhodes. That leap was so great, he said, that no other man could leap anywhere near the distance. A great many persons in Rhodes had seen him do it and would prove that what he told was true.* ** *"No need of witnesses," said one of the hearers. "Suppose this city is Rhodes. Now show us how far you can jump."*
