Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
There *was* an apparent scientific consensus. That isn't to be
denied. But was there a *real* scientific consensus. It's obvious
that there was not. That would be a consensus rigorously based on
scientific principles, and such a consensus would be far more widely accepted.
Ah. I see what you mean.
"Proving" LENR is the wrong approach, in fact. Rather, there are
these effects, reported by so many researchers. What's the *most
likely* explanation for them? Given the body of evidence, the
streams of evidence that converge, it's obvious.
Yes, that is what Melich and I concluded:
"We do not assert that cold fusion is unquestionably a nuclear effect
and only a nuclear effect. As noted already in this Appendix, we
assert that a chemical effect or experimental error is ruled out, and
that the heat beyond the limits of chemistry, helium commensurate
with a plasma fusion reaction, tritium and heavy metal transmutations
all point to an unknown nuclear reaction. In short, the nuclear
hypothesis best fits the facts, but until a detailed nuclear theory
is worked out and broadly accepted, this will remain only a working hypothesis.
It is conceivable that cold fusion is caused by an unknown effect
even more powerful than nuclear fusion that triggers some nuclear
changes as a side effect of the main reaction, just as fission
reactor heat triggers chemical changes as a side effect of fission. . . ."
Krivit's latest blog entries say he thinks cold fusion is not fusion:
<http://newenergytimes.com/v2/blog/>http://newenergytimes.com/v2/blog/
QUOTE:
"But 'cold fusion' doesn't look like fusion."
It sure looks like fusion to me! Frankly, I do not have the foggiest
idea how he reached that conclusion.
Plus I do not know any researchers trying to "squelch" the
Windom-Larsen" theory, or any theory. They ignore theories they do
not believe in. Theories are a dime a dozen in this business. As far
as I know none of them makes useful predictions -- or even testable
predictions! So they are useless. Heck, they aren't even theories,
just speculation. A theory is not viable unless it can be tested and falsified.
- Jed
