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Comment by junon | Hacker News Reader

This. The idea that science can't also be fun seems to be the mindset of a lot of people criticizing others for participating more as eager spectators. Nothing wrong with that. Let people enjoy things. If LK-99 turns out to be nothing then we got some entertainment out of it and a lot of people learned about superconductors (and science in general) in the process. How's that not a win in and of itself?

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Just to underline this, after years of plague, war and uncertainty, I think this is a great, positive thing, whatever happens.

I'm annoyed with someone I was talking to about this, who either can't or won't stop ranting about past high-profile failures.

Yes, we all know. Old folks like me remember the cold fusion scam first hand. Your knowing cynicism displays deep scientific wisdom. Happy?

Great, now let's watch the fucking show, this is neat, even if it doesn't work out.

It's one thing to engage suspension of disbelief when watching a movie. It's another to engage it when discussing actual scientific papers.

No, it's not. Most people engaging in scientific papers are not themselves scientists in the field. Further, their enthusiasm doesn't change reality. LK-99 is or is not a superconductor. People getting overly excited doesn't change that. Lighten up.

Just because you are not a scientist in the field does not mean you cannot engage and improve your critical thinking skills. I do not need to lighten up, you need to learn some intellectual rigor.

I'm guessing some people feel like the time spent discussing/keeping up to date would be a waste of time if it turns out it isn't true.

Which I guess is fine, the friction comes from when those people think others shouldn't "risk" wasting their time, as they start wanting to impose their own will upon others. But this happens all the time with humans so...

Cold fusion was replicated by a few labs but that wasn’t good enough for the media and they killed it. For background see 60 minutes episode “Cold Fusion is Hot again” where they interview and admit Pons Fleischmann was right.

The difference now is that China is a super power and doesn’t have to kiss the ring of the US hegemon.

As an example of replication see

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036031992...

There are many paper like this.

The “cold fusion is a hoax” was in itself, a hoax.

Journal seems legitimate, but author has a H-index of 7 and is making a revolutionary claim that the vast majority of working scientists in the field reject. Why aren't people accepting his work, then? Who is perpetrating this "hoax" you are referencing?

Not comparing here, but I just remembered that the first paper on graphene was rejected (twice) and one of the reviewers said something like 'this paper does not represent a scientific advance.'

Because science has been captured by the global mafia who wants to shut off oil imports if some client state decides to get uppity.

This proverbial gun is disabled if there is abundant decentralized power generation they don’t control.

Just look at the oil shutdown at Niger.

Okay, so if this global conspiracy is about maintaining control of the world through the supply of oil, thus they are suppressing cold fusion, why have they allowed solar power and wind power to exist? Or battery storage technology, or electric cars?

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