Re: Stop the nonsense

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Mddeming-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 2/14/02 10:15:48 AM Eastern Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:



>
> Ralph, what I see was Dave winding a flat secondary, hooking it up in many
> different
> configurations, trying to attain sparklengths, seeing some oddity's in
> behavior,
> then proposing a theory which lead into the longitudinal nightmare. What we
> did
> "not" see were experiments for verification (because it was nothing more
> than his
> concept at this point in his understanding).


Hi All,

Three points:

1. Seeing anomalies, and trying to verify and understand where they come from,
is one thing. Seeing what appear to you to be anomalies, and declaring that
they disprove all existing theory and somehow prove a new one, is quite another
matter.  It requires a Newton or Einstein calibre mind, mathematical training,
theoretical ability, and level of understanding to verify that, indeed, the
current theory is found wanting,  I believe these precursors to be sorely
lacking in the current issue.

2. Thousands of people over centuries have dedicated their lives to an ever
more rigorous methodology of science, in the hopes of extending knowledge and
lifting humankind out of the muck and mire of ignorance and superstition.
Therefore, anyone who brashly declares a major invalid without FIRST presenting
a vast body of research or hard theoretical development, should NOT expect a
warm, fuzzy, feel-good, first reaction, regardless of whether they are right or
wrong. Newton, Einstein, et. al. were all subject to the same initial
skepticism, and a lot of it was not nearly as gentle.

3. I have observed over the last half-century that those I have met with the
most outlandish ideas and misconceptions are the least inhibited by a negative
reaction. They are often at one with Quintus Septimus Tertullianus, "Prorsus
credibile est, quia ineptum est" (1) "It is to be believed, because it is
absurd." , or St. Augustine, who said it more succinctly, "Hoc credo, absurdum
est!" (2) "This I believe, because it is absurd".

Matt D.

(1) Q.S.T., de Carne Christi, 5  
(2) St .A., Confessiones, VI, 5,7.