I think this is inverted in the LENR community. 

TG 

On Wed, 25 Sep
2013 16:49:57 -0400, Jed Rothwell  wrote:  
Edmund Storms  wrote:


Being one of the old people, I would like to share my impression of
this issue. 

Most young people are ignorant, self-centered, and without
much imagination. When they become old people, most remain ignorant,
self-centered, and without imagination. . . .   

True. But the fact is,
nearly all important innovation in science, math and technology is done
by young people. Theoretical physics are mainly a young person's game.
Most innovations in programming are by young people. 

There are
exceptions of course. Niklaus Wirth published some of his famous
contributions after age 40. But he contributed to theory. Programmers
who made new programs or founded corporations, such as Bill Gates,
Wozniak or Zuckerberg, were usually in their 20s when they did their
best work. (People criticize Gates, but he wrote some excellent software
back in the 1970s, when you consider the limitations of the early
personal computers. So did I, if I do say say so myself.) 

In the case
of cold fusion, I think Martin came up with some of the ideas when he
was young, but he put off implementing them. Also, he was aware of work
in the 1920s and 30s that pointed to cold fusion. 

Older people make
important contributions to literature, music and graphic arts,
especially painting. Monet painted some of his masterpieces a few years
before he died, which were unlike anything in his youth, and unlike
anything anyone painted before. 

Older people sometimes make important
contributions to natural science, biology, other observational sciences,
and archaeology. These things depend on a large base of knowledge and
experience, rather than intuition or a new perspective unencumbered with
older ideas. 

In physics, generally speaking, Planck's other constant
holds. Progress occurs funeral by funeral. Regrettably, in cold fusion,
the wrong gang of old coots are dying off. Also, we have a unfortunate
generational role reversal, because of social and economic
circumstances. See:


http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/RothwellJcomparison.pdf [2] 

- Jed 

   

Links:
------
[1] mailto:stor...@ix.netcom.com
[2]
http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/RothwellJcomparison.pdf

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