Jed, With all respect I cannot understand where you come from when you make such comments: laws of nature-- Rossi's claim is a violation of known laws of nature, that would be ok, if he would make open the details of the experiment set up to third parties even just in terms of reliable input and output measurements.
In main stream physics any results that would be a new result that would show new physics needs to be demonstrated with a precision of 5 sigmas at least. Usually these results need to be achieved by more than one lab or research groups before being considered seriously. It took 10 years of internal continuous review of the results (performed by several people) and many comparisons with an independent group working in the same area, to report to the world the discovery of the acceleration of the universe. This is what is required when claims that are beyond known physics are made. Given that Rossi is not allowing such level of testing and verification (not even close), given that his claims are a violation of known laws of physics and if true pointing to a new and not understood physics, the scrutiny that he should be upheld has to be of the highest level. His behavior and his past are a huge part of what we have available right now in terms of accepting or not his claims. It is unfortunate, it would be great if Rossi, as individual, would be made irrelevant by valid experiments. We would then talk about the data and leave Rossi's personal life alone. But this is not possible at this moment. People have pointed out how inadequate all Rossi's demonstrations are. None of them can be considered definitive with the high standard required to prove new physics. Even if his experiments were introductory physics experiments demonstrating well know physics from the 19th century I would not be completely happy on how the data was acquired and analyzed. Let alone proving new physics. So given what we have, putting the demonstration in a context is essential. If the context told us about a credible, reliable scientist or engineer with a long string of achievements and innovations, with academic honors or successful commercial applications of his inventions, then the context would have helped tremendously in accepting or at least in having a much more open minded attitude towards the claims of a novel and world changing physics. BUT ...instead the context tells us of a shady character with many criminal convictions for money embezzlement, fraudulent bankrupt, somebody that polluted the environment without worrying for the safety of others, somebody that has as his scientific qualifications a fake degree from a diploma mill, somebody that trafficked in gold and silver to do money laundry for the mafia, somebody that already promised innovative technology and never delivered what was promised, and so on.... It is not ONE THING: it is several, all fitting together in a puzzle that shows a clear picture. Yes, maybe every single piece (even if damning enough for most professionals) taken by itself should not be enough to dismiss Rossi, but when you take all these things together, plus his present behavior (and not just the past) and the amazing and history changing claims then any sane person should look at this story and being as much as careful as possible if not defensive and skeptical by default. It is Rossi duty to show he is not playing with people hope and desire. In fact, I say that given what as promised he should metaphorically punished (if it is not possible to punish him legally in some way) by the world community if this would be proven to be indeed a scam. Giovanni On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 1:47 PM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> wrote: > Mary Yugo <maryyu...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >> I have no idea of the probability that Rossi is honest. I hope he is. >> > > He is not, I assure you. He often dissembles about personal matters. If > the truth or falsity of this claim is predicated on his personal honesty, > we must dismiss it. > > Fortunately, it is predicated on immutable laws of physics and first > principle observations made by dozens of people who I know to be honest. It > is predicated on the work of Piantelli and others, and on experimental > results obtained with instruments supplied by other people such as > Ampenergo and whoever bought the 1 MW reactor. > > You need to forget about Rossi's behavior and his personality. They have > nothing to do with this issue. He could be the most dishonest person in the > world but he cannot change the laws of nature. > > I do not understand why you are so obsessed with Rossi's personality to > the point that you ignore physics. > > - Jed > >
