On 31 May 2007 08:58:09 -0700, art wrote:



I cringe at the idea of the news media filtering out the garbage!
It is for the viewer to determine what is garbage and what is not.

Unfortunately very few viewers have either the education or experience
to make that determination. It's like computer literacy. Now days
much of the population has computers, but only a very small percentage
is truly computer literate. As a grad assistant I taught the intro to
computer science. The level of knowledge in those students was scary
and that was at the university level.

Many a multimillionaire owes his fortune to what others have
considered garbage where others have deemed themselves as
educated enough to detrmine what is garbage and what is treasure.

However they were working from sound scientific or business
principles, not something that violates the laws of physics.

Look at the good side of this picture instead of piling on ridicule.
Here we have is a human being who is fighting for something new
and beneficial to all with all the energy and education that he
has within him so that he can hold on to life. The life he has
is enjoyable because he believes he is on the brink of success,
where his life is still usefull instead of lying on a hospital bed.
For a human to be brought from sadness into happiness is a
wonderfull thing that typifies the human race and encouragement
is what a human needs instead of derision to enjoy a life that
has been given him. It is not sad to see a life ending in enjoyment
but it is sad to pile on derision on how a human carries on the
fight for life even in the light of a meagre education.

What is more sad it when some one is encouraged to go on a "fool's
errand" and gives the "man on the street" false hope, so in the end
instead of one disappointed person, thousands have their false hopes
dashed.

Realistically tinkerers, engineers, and scientists alike all know
their individual searches may end up in failure and accept that as a
fact of life.

If he was my grandpa I would encourage him until the end and be
very proud of him and not use my education to discourage him.
Actually the news media should use that story for those people
who are interested in what is good in life as well as those

Although this approach sounds charitable to create false hopes in the
person doing the research and those who believe in it is very cruel.

To encourage research, experimentation, and to push the envelope is
good, but to give false hope even in the name of charity is not.
I would far rather work under the sense of what I do has he odds
against it rather than a false grandiose hope that would or could
leave me and worse yet those who believed in me with dashed hopes.

To point out the failings in a piece of research is not derision, as
long as it is done in a respectful manner. It is in fact an attempt to
help the individual rather than to encourage them to pursue "junk
science".

Mankind has been looking for perpetual motion since we had enough
brain power to envision such a fallacy. Most any engineer can show the
weakness behind this idea and prove them. Yet there are those who
believe we can violate the laws of physics/nature with impunity and
there are those who encourage it. There are many things far more
practical and rewarding for the individual and society as a whole that
are much more likely to succeed. Those are the things we should
encourage.
who only have derision for the efforts of others.
Regards
Art