Found this in Wired magazine from over a year ago. Many of us were distracted during that time, you may recall.

Cold Fusion

I was given this lead by some friends on my "EnergyResources" list over at Onelist.com. If anyone is interested in a view of the energy situation longer than a year or so, you might find it of some value.

Hallyx

"We wait, breathlessly, for a Deus ex Machina, realizing only to late that our intelligence is a sword made of feathers and our faith but a gossamer shield for our vanity."

-- (Hallyx@aol.com), March 07, 2000

Answers

Thanks for the site. I had wondered what had become of cold fusion. But it well take along time for us to get any use of this.

-- ET (bneville@zebra.net), March 07, 2000.

Seems that the scientific establishment is just as narrow-minded and bigoted as people on this forum.

-- Sir Richard (richard.dale@unum.co.uk), March 08, 2000.

This is fascinating. In 1989, I attended a lecture by Pons on his cold fusion work. I was convinced I was witnessing history. But I have long since forgotten about it. Encouraging to hear that there is some creditable science going on. The vested interests that are threatened here are enormous. Yet, if there is any reality to cold fusion, surely it will be revealed.

Cold fusion seems to threaten sacred science dogmas. Wouldn't it revoke the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics? Doesn't it imply "perpetual motion", "something for nothing", entropy decreasing rather than increasing. Such heresy!

Yet don't we see the 2nd Law being revoked every day? Don't we see order out of chaos every day? What is a thought, a poem, a joke, an idea, a word, an ant colony, a human civilization, if not pure creation; order from disorder. What about Life itself--a mass of inert molecules suddenly become self-organizing, conscious, alive! Seems to me this puts the lie to the established "truth" that everything is running down?

Interesting how there is a continual dynamic tension between The Establishment (the debunkers, the Gatekeepers) and the Believers (the dreamers, schemers and, yes, the paranoids). In y2k, the debunkers were right. But often the debunkers have been wrong. Most revolutionary ideas went against entrenched interests and were "debunked" until proven otherwise. We need both the skeptics and the dreamers. We need the dynamic tension between them. If the Establishment were ever to dominate, the world would be a dreary, non-dynamic Soviet Union place. If the far-outs ever dominate, the world would be a loony bin of magic incantations directed by scary "prophets".

I hope that Cold Fusion proves out. It's a long shot but so was the wheel.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), March 08, 2000.

Thanks, Lars. I really liked that. Just one little thing.

Nobody is suggesting, should cold-fusion prove practicable, that it violates the Second Law. There is much about it we still don't fully understand, but none of it turns physics on its head.

You observe: Yet don't we see the 2nd Law being revoked every day? ...What about Life itself-

Life is merely a local organization of certain elements through the use of energy. It increases entropy in adjoining systems. In fact, an organised structure like civilization which allows for "overhead" activities such as art, poetry, internet discussions, etc. increases entropy even faster.

Don't know as I agree that the the formation of the universe contradicts entropy. What's more organised than a singularity?

But I'm all for dynamic tension.

Hallyx

"It is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. In fact, some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it that it is unquestionably correct." ---Michio Kaku

-- (Hallyx@aol.com), March 08, 2000.

Hallyx, do you ever visit the Longwaves economic board? (http://csf.colorado.edu/forums/longwaves/) There has been some discussion there lately about cold fusion. One of the regulars there says a Dr. Case (?) has replicated the original cold fusion experiment and his work is now being tested at Stanford Research Institute. The poster, Eric von Baranov, I think, is saying it is one reason palladium has been shooting for the moon in price. I guess the CF unit uses palladium. BTW, how do I sign up for that Energy Resources list?

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), March 08, 2000.

Yeah, Cash. That's what started the CF discussion on my "energyresources" list where I found that article.

Hallyx

-- (Hallyx@aol.com), March 08, 2000.