Arthur C. Clarke as skeptic

[Chuck Britton <britton@ODIE.NCSSM.EDU>]

At 8:16 PM -0700 9/20/99, William Beaty wrote:

       Here's a more 'complete' quote from A.C. Clarke

       I think the word SKEPTICAL that he ends the paragraph with is
most important.
> Ah, but I forgot.  Arthur C. Clarke has become a Cold-Fusion believer.

       really? I read it as Skeptic (but interested, after all, he
DOES write good SciFi!)

> Therefore we can discount everything he ever said about the dangers of
> closed-mindedness and "pathological disbelief," and about aging scientists
> who declare certain phenomena to be impossible.
>
> See Clarke's essay in SCIENCE:
>
>   Presidents, Experts, and Asteroids
>   http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/280/5369/1532
>
>   "Even more controversial than the threat of asteroid impacts is what I
>   would call perhaps one of the greatest scandals in the history of
>   science, the cold fusion caper..."


       Even more controversial than the threat of asteroid impacts
is what I would call perhaps one of the greatest scandals in the
history of science, the cold fusion caper. Like almost everyone else,
I was surprised when Pons and Fleischmann announced that they had
achieved fusion in the laboratory; and surprise changed to
disappointment when I learned that most of those who had rushed to
confirm these results were unable to replicate them. Wondering first
how two world-class scientists could have fooled themselves, I then
forgot the whole matter for a year or so, until more and more reports
surfaced, from many countries, of anomalous energy production in
various devices (some of them apparently having nothing to do with
fusion). Agreeing with Carl Sagan's principle that "extraordinary
claims require extraordinary proofs" (spoken in  connection with UFOs
and alien visitors), I remained interested, but skeptical.


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Chuck Britton                                   Education is what is left when
britton@odie.ncssm.edu                          you have forgotten everything
North Carolina School of Science & Math         you learned in school.
(919) 286-3366  x224                            Albert Einstein,        1936