>> The dirty secret of science is that most scientists are not nearly as open-minded as they want people to think they are. Right now cold fusion is a heresy, and anybody who speaks out in favor of it is shunned.

> Your take on science and scientists is right on target.

So, what, do you guys think the international science cabal just gets together and decides which theories to endorse? And they decided to axe cold fusion from the accepted list because... why, exactly? Isn't it more likely that just most researchers in the field aren't happy with the work that has happened and so don't believe in it? That doesn't require a conspiracy, and in fact the burden of proof is always on the person making a claim that is counter to our understanding of the world, not on the skeptics.

If scientific researchers weren't willing to accept new ideas, nothing would ever change. Scientific progress is built on the fact that the scientific method and its practitioners are good at evaluating and accepting radical ideas.

I have no idea what the state of cold fusion research is like, but I find it highly dubious that scientists are blacklisting cold fusion researchers just because mainstream scientists are "closed minded." What the heck would they have to gain from keeping cold fusion undiscovered?

This claim about science -- which gets trotted out a lot by crackpots (see anyone who calls himself a parapsychologist or an "alternative" anything), making me suspicious of anyone who uses it and claims to be a legitimate researcher -- seems to misunderstand the way universities and research institutions work. You are not penalized for disproving accepted theories. Rather you get published and get grant money!

I've heard more than one researcher complain of the "young gunslinger" phenomenon, where new academics go out of their way to attack orthodoxy to make a name for themselves; there's always some kid trying to challenge the fastest draw in the west. My experience with researchers (in the squishy social sciences) is that when they get together many of them act like a bunch of persnickety jerks who go out of their way to tear down the research of others because it makes them look smart.

I often wonder if it's not that process that those on the fringes complain about. Yeah, if you're researching something weird you'll get attacked, but then again who doesn't? That's how science is supposed to work.

Stephen