On Dec 15, 2011, at 1:30 PM, Joshua Cude wrote:
On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 12:45 PM, Horace Heffner
<hheff...@mtaonline.net> wrote:
Rossi's tests and explanations are full of holes and self
contradictions, impossibilities. It is Rossi's tests and
explanations that matter. All the blather from the peanut gallery
is irrelevant, except possibly to alert the few gullible investors
that might listen, and to demonstrate that the LENR research
community is not so crackpot as to easily accept scientifically
unproven claims of commercial viability.
What it's demonstrated is that there are only a few not so
crackpot. You and Krivit are in the minority if Rothwell is right
that most of the CF community believes Rossi. If Rossi flames out,
Krivit will become an unbearable sage in the field. That is, more
unbearable than he already is.
Just to be clear, I am not convinced either way about Rossi's cats
being genuine. Maybe it is genuine, against all odds, at least in
part. I do think his antics and history require an unusually
skeptical viewpoint from a business perspective. From a scientific
point of view I think he has demonstrated nothing, and is not
interested in demonstrating anything, or he would have. This adds up
to zero scientific credibility. This is not to say there is nothing
in what he is doing that *may* be worthy of serious scientific interest.
I think there are few long time members of the LENR community who are
adamant and vocal disbelievers, and few who are adamant and vocal
believers. There are certainly few crackpots. The vast majority
seem to me to be sitting on a fence waiting to see what develops, or
at least consider the topic unworthy of serious effort to discuss.
My point of view is there is a need to be vocal without taking either
extreme position, that there is serious need to find out the facts as
soon as possible. There is a need to protect the public from fraud,
to protect the LENR community from the potential downside of a
boondoggle, and to protect the public interest in meeting current
and future clean energy needs, which can be expected to reach crisis
proportions in the lifetimes of the younger generation, if not much
sooner.
If Rossi's device is genuine, and he comes up with a good patent,
then I think there may be a good argument for an eminent domain
action. Rossi might like that, because he can get paid for doing
nothing further, except maybe suing for amount adjustments. An
invention of that importance should not be trifled with. A Manhattan
style project is justified if the E-cats work as advertised, whether
there is a patent or not.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
