Gibbs responded to my comment, and I responded back, as follows: MG:
You completely miss my point … Ruby’s argument dimisses Ethan’s argument by simply saying “you’re wrong” and citing experimental evidence that isn’t accepted outside of the LENR community. You’re right, experiment trumps theory but only when you have an experiment that can be replicated and has unarguable results. Unless I misunderstand, the catalog of successful LENR experiments doesn’t include one that you could hand to Ethan and say “here you go, try it, it works.” ME: You wrote: “You completely miss my point … Ruby’s argument dimisses Ethan’s argument by simply saying ‘you’re wrong’ and citing experimental evidence that isn’t accepted outside of the LENR community.” There is no such thing as the LENR “community.” What we have here are hundreds of scientists who have replicated an effect. Many of them are distinguished scientists who made a name for themselves long before cold fusion emerged, such as the late Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, and a commissioner on the French AEC. These two never met any of the other researchers until they confirmed the effect in their own laboratories. They were experts in nuclear power reactor design and regulation, not LENR. “You’re right, experiment trumps theory but only when you have an experiment that can be replicated and has unarguable results.” This result has been replicated thousands of times, often at such high signal to noise ratios the results are unarguable. For example, researchers have often measured heat at 20 to 100 W with no input. There is not the slightest chance this is an experimental error. No scientist in history would have difficulty confirming that. Such high levels of heat have continued hundreds to thousands of times longer than any chemical effect would allow, so there is no chance this is a chemical effect. “Unless I misunderstand, the catalog of successful LENR experiments doesn’t include one that you could hand to Ethan and say ‘here you go, try it, it works.’” You do misunderstand. I can hand him instructions right here: “How to Produce the Pons-Fleischmann Effect.” http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/StormsEhowtoprodu.pdf However, it is unlikely he has the skill to follow these instructions. The procedures take a year or so and they require PdD-level chemistry skills. Asking Dr. Siegel to do this would be a lot like asking an electrochemist to perform an astrophysical experiment (or an observation with a telescope). Most experiments are difficult and require expertise and experience to replicate. Cold fusion is no exception.
