Being somewhat involved in leadership education and methods I recently had some kind of an insight. A well known tool for learning how the manage and recruit the right personality to the right position is the Jung Typology and MBTI test. You know, if you’re an ENTP profile your the typical “inventor” and if you’re the ISTJ you’re the typical “inspector”.
And right here, we have the conflict of pro and con LENR in a super-simplified psychological profile… In common they have an extrovert “T”, which means that this is what they both show to the outer world. They both prefer to be seen as “thinkers”. But apart from that, they are completely different. The Inventor uses “N” (iNtuition) as the main method of gathering and interpreting information about the world, while the Inspector uses “S” (Senses/facts) to do the same thing. Actually for an Inspector the facts are even more important than thinking since, being introvert, it’s their dominant function, thinking is just a tool to manage the FACTS.
Have a look at these statements to know what I’m talking about and maybe determine your preference. It’s really quite obvious.
(a) Loose speculations bore me the most, or (b) Trivial details bore me the most
(a) I prefer to focus on facts, or (b) I prefer to focus on possibilities and perspectives
Unfortunately I believe that the research community, maybe especially in physics, is overcrowded with the “S” types. And they tend to recruit other “S” types, that will continue to analyse already known facts, or maybe make tiny advancements in really specialized fields. This is the way they want it. They feel safe.
And then comes a “N” type and says: “All the facts that make up the core of your belief, is wrong…”
What will happen? Well the Inspector will fall into pure weakness, because new things are dangerous to them. And they will show feelings instead of thinking. However they are not especially good at this so they start defending and attacking, using poor value driven arguments like fraud, incompetence and personal accusations. They easily fall into pseudoskepticism. This also explains why it is fruitless to argue back using logic and quantitative reasoning. They are not listening anymore, because they are in denial. They would rather like to kill than agree on anything that threatens their world view.
The only way to handle the “S” types is for the “N” types to keep working on their own. The “S”-types will not be of much help at present, but eventually the data from more experiments will convince some of them, and then finally, all of them from pure group pressure. Time is also an important factor. They need to withdraw, analyse the experiments and figure out how the new data can be incorporated in their old world view without to much change. And eventually they will come up with the theory that explains it all, and it can be considered a fact. And then, they will feel safe again.
I only remind a little about your classifications…
when analysing LENR tragedy I see first a problem between nuclear physicist and chemist.
Chemist are bound to an experimental world, observing evidences, and correcting theories according. They are used with hard experiments, and evidences that you fight for. A chemist is used to say “it is real” but “I don’t know the theory”.
1950+ Nuclear physicist are tightened to theory, mathematics. Their experimental world is just a way to confirm their theory. They clearly state that if there is no theory, it does not exist. that if a resut contracdict the theory, there is an error.
Beside those two kind of scientific mood, there are many dreamers, the Tesla fan, free energy dreamers, who are neither conservative, nor realist.
Unlike nuclear physicist, they can face the consensus without any trouble, but unlike chemist they cannot face contradicting evidence.
They are used as strawmen by the nuclear physicis to ridicule the chemist kind of scientist who simply measure LENR, try to characterize it, not necessarily to make a theory.
another mood is the engineer and entrepreneur mood, who face reality and evidence with any problem, but who can face consensus not despite the theory, but with a vision not unsimilar the dreamers… Sure they stick to the evidences, but not to the consensus, nor the habits… they don’t dream to go to the moon, they look how to go to the moon, they measure the effort needed and build it.
maybe some people follow the mass, the consensus, just to please their peers and avoid conflict. that is media, populations, politicians… they have no theory, no realism, no vision, just kindness.
I like your comment! Since I kind of like like Jung as well, I would like to make some connections…
If the physicist is the ISTJ personality then I would say the typical chemist is a ISTP personality. They both have the same tools but use them differently, the physicist being more (J)udgemental and the chemist being more (P)erceptive. For the chemist (T)hinking is the dominant function and facts/rules are used to support the thinking process. For the physicist it’s the other way around. Thinking is there to support the Facts/Rules…
Then comes the dreamers, or (F)eelers in the Jung world… Actually they are as diverse as the (T)hinkers. Some of them are judgemental and some are perceptive, but they instead of logical reasoning they use feelings or moral considerations as their way to interprete the world.
As an example the physicists like to put everyone that do not conform to their belief in the same boat as the “healer” (INFP) because they are the opposite and least understood by a physicist (i.e. no rules, no logic). So when they are cornered and someone is challenging their world they resort to their weakest spot and use extremely value driven (feelings), non-Fact-based arguments, i.e. fraud, incompetence and personal accusations. As you know they would love to put LENR in the same box as healing, becuase it’s threatening… It’s their natural response when in stress. This is especially true when they are cornered by a real “thinker” for whom “thinking” is dominant, like a chemist or an inventor… see the pattern…
The entrepreneurs, inventors and some engineers are possibility based thinkers. They (we/me) like change. It’s actually inspiring when evidence and theories contradicts, because it implicates possibilities. All personalities with NT thrive on possibilities and use logical reasoning as their way to analyze them.
Finally, the types most prone to follow the mass, to conform to consensus and their peers, is the types with *S*J (for example the physicist) in their profile. Because they value the world as it is. And they value obedience of rules.