unscientific and ultimately destructive.

Your message was perhaps one of the strangest pieces of email I have ever received. Although it is flattering to have a ``fan club'', in fact, it is a very bad idea. Unlike most of human society, science and engineering are based on the idea that each of us is capable of evaluating evidence and thinking on our own. Each of us can do experiments, work out the reasoning, and determine the truth for ourselves. There is no room in science or engineering for ``fans'' representing group approval over individual thought. One of my heros, Galileo, put it very well:

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

I am pleased to talk with people about matters of science or engineering, so you and your colleagues may certainly send me mail. I hope to learn as much from your experiences as you may learn for me. But please get rid of the ``cult of personality'' way of thinking. It is unscientific and ultimately destructive.

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

No, I believe if you tell a lie enough, it eventually because the truth, because the concept of truth is supported by human psychology, and once you manipulate people enough then you can decide what is truth and what isn't. The truth is not an externally dependable physical framework. It is also essential for good science to have popular backing for it against mass junk science and pseudo-science, otherwise it can't survive.