[ARC5] Attempting " resurrection" of a hacked BC-696.

[Brian Clarke]

Excellent, Dave,

This 'majority hysteria' is very similar to Irving Janis' ideas in his book
on Groupthink - the notion that if everyone goes along with it, it must be
right. His research was kicked off by the JFK vs Krushchev Cuban missile
crisis, when no-one around the table would disagree with JFK. It was only
when his brother Robert, the Attorney General, suggested that people should
start playing 'devil's advocate' that the world started to see some sense.

As I recall, JFK also came out with the statement about 'Think not what your
country can do for you; think what you can do for your country.'

My standard counter to this 'majority is right' notion is when Unilever, a
major soap manufacturer and marketer, came out with a soap guaranteed to
make clothes 'whiter than white'. In London, once the washing machines
finished their allotted tasks, the still soap-rich water would be discharged
into the River Thames - women always seem to use more soap than the
manufacturer recommends. This wonderful discharge killed all the fish in the
Thames for two human generations. And now the sexist conclusion: 'A million
housewives CAN be wrong.' 

Another counter to democracy is that science does not proceed by agreement -
it proceeds by disputation and disagreement, the most elegant example of
which is the Null Hypothesis.

Cheers, Brian, VK2GCE

On Friday, 23 June 2017 11:36 AM, you said:

> They won't care. Several times I've offered to do an ARC-5 demo at our 
> club and no interest.

You're right.  The majority of any club won't care at all.
You can't let yourself worry about "majority opinions."
"There is nothing so foolish as a majority."
A "majority" is a herd validating each other as they thunder from womb to
tomb and contribute nothing but hot air, horse manure and expended
resources.
Nothing of lasting value has ever been done by a "majority."
It has always been the one or two that moved us forward.
Majorities are nothing but "noise in the equation of existence."

Do what you love for yourself.
Do it for the one or two who will care, who matter.
To a well-deserved oblivion with those who don't.
When they scoff and ask "why do this?"
look at them and ask: "What have YOU done?"
Their silence will vindicate you.

Dave S.