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Re: E.M. theory



Original poster: "Dr. John W. Gudenas" <comsciprof@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

All

While this thread is still alive, albeit going off topic, I feel
obligated to make some noise. As Antonio indicated, it always seems
to resurface.
I just returned from the international ACM convention for the Special
Interest Group on Computer Science Education where I led a discussion
group on CS Capstone Courses.
These pseudoscience sites confuse undergraduates as well as the
radical fringe. I have had students cite them in research papers.
Students are now being instructed in their 'Freshman year
in techniques on how to establish the validity of WEB based
references. This is, indeed, an insidious problem. It is hard enough
to teach abstract conceptual foundation, but these science snake oil
purveyors are quite dangerous.
Most of the time the agenda is there to find, but sometimes I think
they actually believe their snake oil will cure their academic cancer.

Unfortunately, time spent on these web activities takes time away
from other content areas. However, it is necessary as some freshmen
have never entered a physical library!
Matt is correct, much like Sisyphus, it is an eternal uphill battle.
John

John W. Gudenas, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science

On Mar 12, 2007, at 8:08 PM, Tesla list wrote:

Original poster: Mddeming@xxxxxxx
Hi Paul, Antonio, All,

    In this "New Age", there is nothing so silly that it won't
attract devotees among the gullible.
Often, the sillier it is, the more steadfast the devotion,
especially if it claims to turn all known
science upside down.

    Seems like an eternal uphill battle.

Matt D.


In a message dated 3/11/07 6:41:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
tesla@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmdq@xxxxxxxxxx>

Tesla list wrote:
>Original poster: Paul Nicholson <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Leith Aitchison wrote:
>
> > Site that may be of interest explaining Einstein Cartan Evans
> > grand unified field theory , simply amazing !!!
>
>Amazing!  You'd think by now that retired chemistry professors
>should know better than to try their hand at physics!
>
>The site reeks of pseudoscience - the self styled 'institute',
>the appeals to authority (Tony Blair no less - renowned for his
>credulity).
>
>Try these links instead,
>
>http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theoristbad.html
>http://www.mathematik.tu-darmstadt.de/~bruhn/GCUFT.html
Really impressive how long this madness can go... A quick look at the
site shows obvious nonsense in so many places
that I imagined that the subject would be simply ignored. But no,
this never ends so simply...

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz






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