That they resort to obvious lies? Why do a reasonably respectable (science?) magazine (for some anyway) feel that they need to enter into personal accusations, and lie, to achieve their goals?
Why do they feel that they have to use such value driven language in articles about the E-Cat?
The words “dubious”, “notorious”, “spurious inventions”, etc. only have one purpose. And it is the induce doubt in their readers. Why?
I can understand that the fact-driven traditional physicists have a problem with Rossi and the E-cat, sine he and it represents their biggest personal fears. But Popular Science? A simple magazine?
I guess we need to look at the editors, their careers, their invested pride and their personal agendas to be able to analyze the situation? They would probably much rather bring the magazine down, than admit their faults.
We’ll see!
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My sad experience after reading many many stories, is that thei motive is
SINCERE…
They think they have to protect the population from a lie ?
the facts don’t match their opinion ? the facts are wrong, so to protected the population you lie on the facts…
they take crazy risk, but they don’t feel so because they know they are right and will be proven right at the end…
in fact you can also interpret it as Mutual Assured Delusion, where a member of a group prefer to follow the delusion of it’s colleagues, not to be killed by them, because he will win nothing by being realist…
http://www.princeton.edu/~rbenabou/papers/Groupthink%20IOM%202012_07_02%20BW.pdf
note that even in non-Benabou Groupthink you find:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink
the type I match what you comment.
they try to enfore type III strategy by this
Type II explain how they are sure to be right
Type I: Overestimations of the group — its power and morality
* Illusions of invulnerability creating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking.
* Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.
Type II: Closed-mindedness
* Rationalizing warnings that might challenge the group’s assumptions.
* Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, biased, spiteful, impotent, or stupid.
Type III: Pressures toward uniformity
* Self-censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
* Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.
* Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of “disloyalty”
* Mindguards— self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.
sure when the affear get accepted, we should remember that some people have to be beheaded, not for themselves, but to push the next generation of groupthinkers be afraid.
Yes, I do believe their motive is sincere. They will tell us that the’re “protecting” the population or acting in the “public good”, or likewise. And they believe it themselves.
In reality they are censuring themselves against their, also sincere, much more personal motives. And here comes the groupthink. They will rather believe in the public good than self-censure out of conformity, close-mindedness or overestimations …
And their personal motives has everything to do with; what other members of their group think. Because being expelled from the group equals death. This behavior is strongly inherited in most of us since our time in the caves and is still very visibla among chimpanzees and other apes.
Taleb have said somethinh like, I prefere much more who look for money than those who look for honors?…
With bebabou model, it means that peopke who take decision to optimize their own wealth depending on their own acts, are much more realist than those who want to be recognized by the others for what they claim and how it is appreciated.
One mathematical condition of mutual assured delusion is that being realist don’t allow you to gain wealth (any kind, even fame,recognition, safety).
MAD can happen in finance, but you need a group delusion sensible market like in stock or real estate…
MAD is building bubles… it is building consensus terror.
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