MugaSofer comments on Cold fusion: real after all? - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (103)
I must admit, this sounds odd - I wouldn't have predicted this result - but not inexplicable - I would predict that someone with the right incentive could fake this. As such, I still believe cold fusion isn't real, but I have updated my confidence in the relevant model downwards.
However, I will say one thing - if this works, someone should be making money off it. I don't care if it wont replicate; if it works consistently for you then you can use it to build a profitable business, which seems like it should make skeptics think again as well as producing profit.
Just don't ask anyone to invest in Cold Fusion, for God's sake. Start small.
I do agree with this line of reasoning to a certain extent, but it isn't necessarily true. One could imagine a scenario where the experiment was reproducible enough to be convincing (say, it works 75% of the time), but wasn't reproducible enough to be commercially viable (which might require 99% reliability or something). Alternatively, someone could be getting consistent excess heat at a level too low to be of use to anyone.
See also knb's argument in this thread.