My interest here is historical. We know that Rossi creates deceptive leads to throw would-be replicators off. So I trust none of the substantive claims here, they might be true and they might not. I have had a conversation with a scientist who was at an early demonstration, and his account more or less matched what is stated, i.e., when they began looking at the device carefully, Rossi ended the demonstration in a huff. This was U.S. government people, and they offered to meet with him again if he wanted. Apparently he never returned.
The conversation reported below was in 2011, when the Rossi news broke widely.
From JONP:
QuoteDisplay More
Hank Mills
[/b]November 16, 2016 at 10:48 PM
[/b]
Dear Andrea,
1) Did your earliest reactors tested during 2008 at Bondeno utilize lithium in any form?
2) Did your tests in 2011 utilize the same ingredients in their “charge” (the fuel catalyst mixture that goes into the reactor chamber) as those at Bondeno in 2008?
3) Are you aware that a certain individual that has been hostile towards you removed a document from his website containing generally positive statements from Tony Tether, a former director of DARPA, about a demonstration he witnessed? (It’s still available on certain other websites.)
[Note added by Abd: This claim about removal appears to have been false. See below. The statements were "reservedly positive," not actually confirmations.]
4) Would you agree that one of the primary challenges in any Ni-H system is somehow achieving adequate hydrogen uptake by the nickel?
5) When you demonstrate the Quark publicly, would you be willing to allow pre-selected and approved (by you) third parties give short talks about any successful replications they have been able to achieve of the Rossi Effect?
Sincerely,
Hank Mills
Andrea Rossi
November 17, 2016 at 8:06 AM
Hank Mills:
1- yes
2- basically yes, but there has been a continue evolution through the experiments
3- no, I didn’t know about it: why don’t you send to us a link to it? I remember, obviously, Dr Tether
4- I can’t answer in positive or in negative
5- we did not yet decide the details of the presentation
Warm Regards,
A
Mills has followed up as I write this:
QuoteDisplay MoreHank Mills
November 17, 2016 at 8:41 AM
Dear Andrea,
Here is the file with Tony Tether’s comments. It can be found on the “Way Back Machine” which archives websites.
https://web.archive.org/web/20…Tether-Krivit-E-mails.pdf
I find it particularly disturbing when someone removes information from their own website after realizing it conflicts with the narrative they are trying to portray. In this case, Tony Tether seemed confident about the legitimacy of your demonstration and that it produced high COP.
Note added by Abd: The claim of removal appears to be false; if it disappeared, perhaps there was some glitch. The material, which is quoted below, is on Krivit's site, as shown below.
I will copy the Krivit material here, because Krivit has acted in the past to remove material from archive.org. This is in no way surprising for him, he has removed or covered up with a misleading link material that he once posted, an example would be the Richard Garwin comment on Lewis Larsen, which was quite negative, though stated more or less as a question, which then Krivit has presented as if it were positive. In this case, he hasn't eliminated the conversation, but made it part of a list of "positive comments." Which it certainly was not, as anyone can find by reading what he links.
At this point, I intend to cover what I can find about Tether and the early demonstrations. I know someone else who knew Rossi then, well, and Rossi is apparently highly likeable in person. But ... bails if seriously questioned. That person was totally shocked to see the Rossi Hydro Fusion email. The person knew about that test, but ... had difficulty imagining that Rossi would write what he actually wrote to IH.
Rossi, my general conclusion, is insane, which is not a specific diagnosis, it means that normal standards of sanity cannot be used to understand behavior. I am not "attacking" him. My opinion is that those who enable his insanity are not his friends; his insanity is taking him down, he could lose everything. Rossi is not the only cold fusion figure who is insanity-enabled. It's a problem. Paranoia is actually fairly obvious, but some set it aside. I have a friend who tends to paranoia in his life, and when it strikes him, he becomes obsessed by whether it's "right" or not. He can see all this evidence!
I often repeat: just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. However, paranoia is a reactive mental state that disables higher brain functions, which become directed entirely to survival in a world where "being wrong" is a terrible fate. The amazing associative engine of the cerebral cortex becomes entirely devoted to developing "proof." And someone who is very smart can always invent proof!
How to move beyond this is not necessarily easy. I've been trained, but most people never approach that. When reactivity is calmed, the higher functions operate and create possibilities and if there is real danger, it will be immediately addressed. Martial artists know that if they are not afraid, they cannot be cut. Is that true? Probably not, but as a stand that generates maximally effective action, it is probably spectacular. "Truth" is overblown, when it becomes abstract.
