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Re: Cold Fusion Discussion



I think it is time to put these arguments to bed with the admonition
that comes from those who must deal with claims of what certainly
appears to most of us as pathological science: Put up or shut up!

It is not up to us to prove that CF or any other of the so-called
"suppressed" phenomena do not exist. It is up to their proponents to
prove that they do exist, and at this point, it is going to require
that "kick-ass" demonstration that was called for by some one here
not too long ago. That the phenomenon of "cold fusion" exists seems
to have been demonstrated by Jones and a few others, and their
demonstrations seem to be on a sound theoretical footing. But the
outlandish claims of P&F, have not, at least to my satisfaction, and
apparently that of most other scientists, been demonstrated. Whatever
phenomenon exists seems to be on such a small scale that the
possibility of retrieving any usable amount of energy appears
negligible at this time. It is certainly the burden of P&F and their
supporters to come up with the demonstration that it works as they
say it does, and to display it publicly.

Of course we cannot say that it is utterly impossible that it could
be true under some other not yet conceived conditions, any more than
it was reasonable for Rutherford to call usable nuclear energy
"moonshine." In 1932, it wasn't unreasonable to think the likelihood
of ever getting usable nuclear energy was low. That it happened
within 15 years can be mostly attributed to the war. The Germans
never did get it, and they thought it was possible. Well, at this
point, I won't come out and say CF can never work, only that it
doesn't look to me like it has to date, and I have pretty strong
doubts that it will work in the future.

In the immortal words of Carl Sagan (and others), "Extraordinary
claims require extraordinary evidence (and the more extraordinary the
claim, the more extraordinary the evidence required)." I'm waiting.

Hugh

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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