X-Message-Number: 6953
Subject: Visser Research and Disclosure
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 10:29:10 -0400
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <>

> From:  (Michelle Olga Visser)
> 
> The moral of this story is:
> 
> An unknown scientist, with a unknown protocol, using an unknown method,
> with an unknown solution, is sometimes the only way to solve some problems.

You are correct. The world depends on people like Flemming inventing
the Penicillins that keep us going. However, that is irrelevant. Being
unknown isn't the issue. Non-disclosure of material information about
your research is the issue.

When Flemming invented Penicillin, he did not keep the methods secret
or expect people to donate money to his research without any
information on what it was he was doing. Indeed, Flemming told the
world. (Unfortunately the world largely ignored him for a couple of
years, but that wasn't Flemming's fault, and Flemming did all he could
to be open about his discovery.)

You, on the other hand, and the organizations you have contracted
with, are telling us nothing about what you doing, and are expecting
the public to fund research the nature of which is undisclosed. There
is no rational excuse for this.

Certainly patent law does not prohibit publication. U.S. Patent Law
permits full publication even before filing. Even more restrictive
international patent laws permit full publication after initial
filing. There is no reason on earth for you not to disclose full
details of your methods, or at worst wait a month for your attorneys
to finish your first filing and then disclose everything.

In short, there is no rational reason to solicit funds without full
disclosure of what it is you are doing. At worst, you would suffer a
minor delay.

Personally, I will not donate money to a pig in a poke. I am the sort
of old fashioned guy who does not want to rely on the word of third
parties and likes the idea of being able to reproduce the experiment
himself, at least in theory, and see the opinions of a wide variety of
scientists.

This is not to say that I inherently disbelieve in your research. I
see no reason to believe you are lying. I do see, however, reason for
personal caution. As I said, I don't buy things blind. Disclose and
then maybe I would donate money.

Awaiting your publications...

Perry


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