Randy Wuller <rwul...@freeark.com> wrote:
> I am just not convinced a Prize is necessary. What is the chance any of > the players, Rossi, DGT, Lenuco, Brilluion etc have something that will be > convincing to the public, if so no Prize is necessary. > I agree. Actually, if Rossi or one of the others convinces investors, we do not need them to convince the public. It seems Rossi has convinced Cherokee, so I guess we do not need an X-prize. We will not need the public until later, when it becomes generally known that cold fusion is real, and that it will soon complete with other sources of energy. At that point, I expect the fossil fuel industry, the DoE, and the other established players will declare all-out war. They will try to stop cold fusion by any means possible, with public relations campaigns, and by paying members of Congress to pass laws making the use of cold fusion illegal. We will need strong public support to stop them from crushing it. At this moment in history, practically no one realizes cold fusion is real. There is not opposition to the research. The only people trying to stop it are academic scientists and a few publishers such as Scientific American and the New York Times science editors. Most opponents are trying to stop it because they think it is fraud and lunacy, as Robert Park says. Others think it unscientific nonsense, similar to creationism. A few scientists in the plasma fusion program want to stop it because they fear it will cut their budget. As far as I can tell, no one is trying to stop it because they fear commercial competition. They will though. Nothing is more certain. It is inconceivable to me that people making billions of dollars will roll over and play dead the moment they realize cold fusion is better than oil or coal. You need only look at the coal industry for proof of that. They have been campaigning for years trying to crush wind energy, by buying off members of Congress and journalists, and publishing propaganda. They are also working to persuade the public that global warming is not real. They have largely succeeded in that. - Jed
