From: Amara Graps (Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de)
Date: Thu Aug 26 1999 - 07:26:06 MDT
Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@www.aeiveos.com):
>I am aware of Anders' list, my comments as follows:
[criticism of the various searches for Dyson spheres clipped]
You missed my point. It was about your use of "seriously"
in the context of scientific observational experiments.
You previously said:
>At any rate, the major consequence of these "results", has
>been that only one astronomer (Dr. J. Jugaku in Japan) has
>seriously looked for Dyson Shells and he has unfortunately
>(in my opinion) focused these searches only on "visible"
>stars (exactly the same as the work being done by the both
>SETI camps [those who believe a radio carrier is the best
>communication method and those who believe that an optical
>carrier, e.g. lasers, is the best communication method]).
>
I said:
>It seems that you left some observations out.
[observations noted in Anders' FAQ clipped]
So, I will clarify.
The scientists had their own assumptions and premises that they were
testing *regardless of your opinion of the outcome of such a
scientific experiment*.
For these scientists, going through the process of finding funding
sources, building the equipment, travelling to the telescope and
spending the time making the observations, and analyzing the data was
considered by them to have "seriously looked" for Dyson spheres. Of
course others could always do better, and in time, but that's the
nature of scientific progress.
I would not consider your review to be a balanced and scientific
historical review of a several decade long research effort by a number
of scientists doing good scientific ("serious") work.
I suggest a better way to give a balanced review is to state the
problem, the experiments done, and then give your critique and opinion
and leave out the weighted adjectives such as "seriously".
Amara
--
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Amara Graps | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Interplanetary Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1
+49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://galileo.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~graps
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"Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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