Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ncsu.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!ncsu!mauney From: mauney@ncsu.UUCP (Jon Mauney) Newsgroups: net.physics,net.research,net.misc Subject: Re: Why people are skeptical of the Newman machine Message-ID: <2960@ncsu.UUCP> Date: Wed, 23-Oct-85 14:05:42 EDT Article-I.D.: ncsu.2960 Posted: Wed Oct 23 14:05:42 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 26-Oct-85 04:27:58 EDT References: <175@tulane.UUCP>, <441@looking.UUCP> Organization: N.C. State University, Raleigh Lines: 27 Xref: watmath net.physics:3433 net.research:293 net.misc:8760 It seems to me that there are three possibilities a) Newman is a fraud b) Newman has stumbled onto a cute hack involving electrical principles that he doesn't understand, so he is sincere, but wrong. c) Newman has stumbled onto a new source of energy (matter conversion, electron spin, sub-ether power transmissions, whatever). In this case he can't be expected to give a totally correct explanation of the principle. A and B seem the most likely, and our traditional presumption of innocence means we should use B as the working hypothesis. The possibility of C requires us to give the man consideration; the probability of A or B suggests that we shouldn't waste too much time on him. The scientific establishment should present Newman with increasingly rigorous tests designed to screen out fraud and error with as little expense as possible. That Newman has no formal training means that he is unlikely to know what to say to get the attention of trained scientists. It is the duty of the scientists to say "If you want to convince me of that, this is what you'll have to do." The scientific establishment makes an ass of itself when it gets angry about people like Velikovsky and Newman. Science should know better than to say that anything is impossible. It should simply state its reasons for disbelief, and then ignore the crackpots until they prove themselves. -- Jon Mauney, mcnc!ncsu!mauney North Carolina State University "If God had intended Man to fly, he would never have given us the railways."