Hey Pseudosceptics - Does THIS Sound Familiar?
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Here's an article by Michael Prescott that you'll all recognise yourselves in.
"Now, as has been frequently pointed out, this use of the term "skeptic" is more than a little misleading. In common usage, a skeptic is someone who maintains an open mind, insisting on evidence for any claim. The more unusual the claim, the more stringent the evidential demands. According to this view, the skeptic has no private agenda, no personal bias, but serves only as a guardian of the truth, who weeds out unsupported allegations and superstitious imaginings. The skeptic is the proverbial Missourian; though willing to be convinced, he says, "Show me."
That's the theory. In practice, things are different. Far from being a state of habitual open-mindedness, today's skepticism is characterized by resistance to any new ideas or new evidence, and unwillingness to critically examine its own biases. These tendencies, in turn, rest on a very definite agenda, promoted by a clear and comprehensive worldview..."
http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/skeptic.htm
BINGO! Michael. "resistance to any new ideas or new evidence, and unwillingness to critically examine its own biases" Thta's it! That's THE line, right there. Nailed it Michael. Nailed it perfectly. Tell em what he's won Johnny!
and again here "These tendencies, in turn, rest on a very definite agenda". Oh yeah, that's it right there. Nail on the head.
Prescott identifies them in all but name: "Pseudosceptics" or the now more appropriately named "PseudoscepTICKS".
"They are creatures of comfort and routine, not explorers. They cannot think outside the box. They will, in fact, deny that there is or ever could be anything outside the box - and they'll heap scorn on anyone who suggests otherwise. They'll call names, cry fraud, and holler that civilization is in danger and the barbarians are at the gates. They'll do anything, really - except examine their own assumptions with a remotely critical eye."
"Now, as has been frequently pointed out, this use of the term "skeptic" is more than a little misleading. In common usage, a skeptic is someone who maintains an open mind, insisting on evidence for any claim. The more unusual the claim, the more stringent the evidential demands. According to this view, the skeptic has no private agenda, no personal bias, but serves only as a guardian of the truth, who weeds out unsupported allegations and superstitious imaginings. The skeptic is the proverbial Missourian; though willing to be convinced, he says, "Show me."
That's the theory. In practice, things are different. Far from being a state of habitual open-mindedness, today's skepticism is characterized by resistance to any new ideas or new evidence, and unwillingness to critically examine its own biases. These tendencies, in turn, rest on a very definite agenda, promoted by a clear and comprehensive worldview..."
http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/skeptic.htm
BINGO! Michael. "resistance to any new ideas or new evidence, and unwillingness to critically examine its own biases" Thta's it! That's THE line, right there. Nailed it Michael. Nailed it perfectly. Tell em what he's won Johnny!
and again here "These tendencies, in turn, rest on a very definite agenda". Oh yeah, that's it right there. Nail on the head.
Prescott identifies them in all but name: "Pseudosceptics" or the now more appropriately named "PseudoscepTICKS".
"They are creatures of comfort and routine, not explorers. They cannot think outside the box. They will, in fact, deny that there is or ever could be anything outside the box - and they'll heap scorn on anyone who suggests otherwise. They'll call names, cry fraud, and holler that civilization is in danger and the barbarians are at the gates. They'll do anything, really - except examine their own assumptions with a remotely critical eye."
7 comments:
The problem is, you identify everyone as this type of skeptic.
I have no hidden agenda, I hope the ecat is real, but I'm also no where near willing to put a deposit down. I point out what I view as flaws/contradictions/bad business practices on Rossi's part, and therefore I'm a "pseudoskeptic."
I have no problem with LENR, it seems there are multiple unexplained instances of reactions that produce more heat than they should, but that is merely the first step to a useful LENR energy device - it certainly does not mean one has been invented, nor does it necessarily mean it is possible.
To me, this blog will always be the one that declared NI the buyer with zero evidence... and the one that posts comments far too slowly. Presumably, many never get posted.
Think both sides need to check their bias here, some skeptics are biassed (then again, if you were right 999 times in a row, fairly sure you're going to assume you're right the 1000th time, what i'm saying is i can see why they do it, but that doesn't make it right) on the other hand blogs like these should have a litle bias check as well, cause you have to admit there's very little critical articles on here that take a good hard look to see if we're dealing with yet another snake oil salesman or not, the assumption is instantly made that they are on to something and those damn negative skeptics are ruining everything.
If new physics are found and are presented in a decent paper reproducable results, there's no way any skeptic can hold it back.
I looked forward to Rossi allowing the University of Bologna to do independent testing of the E-Cat, since a con man would never do such a thing. Then I found out that Rossi wouldn't do that after all (just what one would expect from a con man).
I also looked forward to Sven Kullander releasing the "detailed isotopic analysis" that would either vindicate Rossi or expose him as a fraud. The report was supposed to be available by Christmas, but there's no sign of it (http://ecatnews.com/?p=1416).
I hope that this isn't another sign that Rossi (and Kullander, as well?) are nothing but frauds.
Love it!
May I highlight this, "The more unusual the claim, the more stringent the evidential demands."
The question now is, how "unusual" is Rossi's claim.
Is he claiming that he has a phenomenon that the scientific community has established as impossible? A very "unusual" claim indeed, requiring a very high evidential demand.
Or is Rossi claiming that he has tamed a phenomenon that clearly exists, that he has optimized a known phenomenon. Certainly the latter is a VASTLY less "unusual" of claim than the former.
So comes the simple question, what is the non-Rossi case for the "Nickel + Hydrogen = over-unity heat" phenomenon? That question has been answered, and the answer is very strong. I could recite it here, but to do it justice takes about a page and a half. So please check out this link instead: http://nickelpower.org/2011/12/30/replicators-as-if-december-30-2011/
Was this post the "Major Exclusive" that you mentioned before?
The best thing you could do now would be to ditch Rossi and concentrate on NASA & CERN - that's where the real LENR deal is. Rossi was just a sideshow.
@bfast
I can jump 30 feet in the air unassisted!
Is that an unusual claim? I mean, people jump all the time - some have even demonstrated the ability to hit 12-13 feet! So I'm only roughly doubling that.
I'll bet you'd still bet against me. Why? Because my claim is very unusual - probably impossible. Even if I did it right in front of you, I'll bet you'd want my shoes investigated very thoroughly - right?
I'll grant - LENR seems a proven phenomenon. But his claims are far beyond what has been observed. I don't hold him to a higher evidenciary standard than I would anyone else, but I wouldn't tie my reputation to his without more than I've seen (and I don't even have a reputation to lose!)
-Josh
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