[extropy-chat] Bayes, crackpots and psi

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:

> --- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Cold fusion
> > research has been
> > piling up impressive results for several years now,
> > results which are
> > irrefutable, in their production of helium isotopes,
> > continuous excess
> > heat, etc.
> 
> But are they easily reproducible?  If not, then even
> if they really do act as claimed, they're worthless.
> (And unlike humans, there are no ethical qualms about
> manufacturing the components - including, say, making
> sure the molecular structure is correct on the
> palladium - to optimize for reproducibility.)

>From what I've seen in the literature, people who stick to the
experiments exactly, and that includes using the same source of the
palladium electrodes (the US Navy's top researcher on this has studied
the different performance of different sources of palladium) can obtain
reproducable results.

I remember when the original big rush occured in the late
80's/early90's and schools all over were claiming to be trying to
replicate the experiment, but they didn't, really, because they never
used the same materials from the same sources. What kind of science is
that? Many never used palladium at all. Those that did never
pre-treated the palladium to remove hydrogen from its crystalline
structure and recharge it with deuterium.

Reproducing an experiment requires that you reproduce every element of
that experiment.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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