X-Message-Number: 32966
References: <>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:01:15 -0500
Subject: Re: CryoNet #32960 - #32964
From: Freeposity <>

On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 4:00 AM, CryoNet <> wrote:
From: MARK PLUS <>

>Suppose someone published a description of the laser as a theoretical
>possibility in 1960, but nobody could build one despite all the
>impressive calculations and illustrations. What would we think of the
>laser idea if, 50 years later, we still didn't have lasers, but we had
>"laserololgists" who referred to the original text as something like
>scripture, wrote and talked about all the marvelous things they
>thought lasers could do if we could build them, held conferences on
>dealing with the social impact of lasers' arrival, warned the U.S. not
>to fall behind other countries' laser programs, solicited grants for
>more theoretical studies of "laserology," etc?

>A rational person who witnessed such a circus in 2010 would dismiss
>lasers as a fantasy and an exercise in rent-seeking, most likely.

That really depends on whether the rational person was a professional
in a technological or scientific field, what kind of biases he held
and whether the math was correct.



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