Re: Dr. Tom and his Amazing Technicolor Web Page

[sbehrens@contech.demon.co.uk (Soenke Behrens)]

dmcclain@runet.edu (Dennis McClain-Furmanski) wrote:

>Soenke Behrens (sbehrens@contech.demon.co.uk) wrote:
>
>: So, the real question was and is: Is Tom telling the truth, a horribly
>: twisted version of the truth, or outright lies? Now there is a way to test
>: this: Check out the given academic credentials. Contact the people who make
>: up 1WSW, ask them for _their_ story.
>
>You might also consider looking into some other psychoacoustics work, 
>learning what it is and how it's done, and then asking Dr. Tom what he 
>did and how he did it, and what effect he expected to get from the transform.
>
>I did this years ago. At the time I had access to two psychoacoustics 
>engineers at Purdue to tell me what to kas and how to understand the answers.
>
>Dr. Tom knows a lot more than most people are capable of understanding, 
>and he was giving it all away free. That's a sadly common thing for 
>someone to get turned on and torn apart for.

Thanks. This is the first time that anyone actually spoke up for Tom.
Greatly appreciated.

I think the reason why Tom got torn apart is not so much that people
weren't capable of understanding what he was doing, but rather because of
the very strange nature of his writings (and claims). Astride his mighty
charger, ego, Tom told us how he had 5 Ph.D.s and a masters in psychology.

Now THAT I would expect to be flamed over if I claimed it. 5 Ph.D.s means
either that someone is 90 and a genius, or less than 90 and a super-
genius :), or a lying scoundrel, or the holder of doctorates that you can
buy for $25. Add to that the kind of doctorates Tom claims, and you get a
pretty dubious picture. Add to that problems with grammar and spelling
(hey, I'm not flaming, it might be he just _can't_ learn to spell; a rare
affliction, but it exists), and people start flaming away.

Regarding doctorates: I asked around regarding parapsychology. These are
the facts, far as I could tell:

- No reputable western university will give you a doctorate in
parapsychology. You can get them at some places in India and the like, but
they are not acceptable to western standards. (Whether western standards
are acceptable is another kettle of fish altogether :)
- The best you can get in the west is a doctorate in psychology with
parapsychology as a speciality. Only university that does this is the
University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Parapsychology is a valid field of research, decent scientific work is
indeed done in it.

What else do I have to pick on? Hmm ... the "research" he did from 74-76,
that is too much for 2 years. I'll give him "I took an interest in the
following subjects", but not "I did research in". Heck, the navy has old
geezers who have studied just one of the fields he claims to have
researched in those 2 years all their lifetime: Sound propagation. What is
more, they only researched sound propagation in water. They know a hell of
a lot about the subject, and are still mostly puzzled over why sound
behaves the way it does.

And, of course, the line "became disabled and retired in 1978, developed an
interest in computers and got an Apple IIc". I didn't even notice this, but
as Ian rightly pointed out, the IIc was not released until 1984. I'm not
saying Tom is lying, but he's at least sloppy with his facts: Which makes
his "research" all the more questionable.

While I'm being ultra-sceptical: "In 1986, I progressed to the Apple IIGS,
(my favorite computer - till this day), using it, for research and
development with; music, sound, art and computer graphics." Me thinks Tom
is using the word "research" too lightly. Yeah, I take a keen interest in
complexity, genetic algorithms and the like. No, I don't do any research on
it. I try to follow what others have done, and if I am partly successful,
I'm happy and proud. An amateur can't do research: He lacks the methods,
and the funds, and the knowledge, and the scientific community to do
research in.

Well, anyway, that's a piece of my mind, so you see where I come from in my
not believing Tom's claims.

>As to why others don't want their names tossed around, take a look at 
>peoples' behaviors in this thread. There's no better explanation needed.

Hey, I haven't picked on you, have I? :)

Soenke

--
I don't know what it is he's doing, it must be art