> >> 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.
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> > 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.
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> 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.
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> 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?
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> 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!
>

This reminds me of the few scientists who claim to study "intelligent design" but can't get a single research article on the subject in a peer-reviewed scientific publication. The common explanation for this is that there's no viable science in the idea at all (as it's just a philosophy) and so no scientific experiments can be devised for it. The explanation from some of the ID folks, naturally, is that the science cabal wants to stifle them to keep the truth in the dark, so they refuse to review ID articles for publication.