On Mon, Dec 11, 2006 at 02:51:09PM -0500, Ron wrote:
Let's support getting definitive evidence.
Since nobody opposed the concept of contrary evidence, I don't suppose you're fighting an uphill battle on that particular point.
It's fine to get preachy about supporting intellectual curiosity, but do remember that it's a waste of everyone's (limited) time to give equal time to all theories. If someone comes to you with an idea for a perpetual motion machine your effort is probably better spent on something other than helping him build it, regardless of whether that somehow seems unfair. (Now if he brings a working model, that's a different story...) Heck, even building a bunch of non-working perpetual motion machines as a demonstration is a waste of time, because it's always easy to say "well, if you had just...". That's precisely why the person bringing the extraordinary claim is also expected to bring the proof, rather than expecting that everyone else prove the status quo.
Mike Stone
