"David Mitchell" wrote in message
...

OK Stephen, open minds was the incorrect term, as not to have an open mind
would not be helpful! I should have paid more heed to this discussion and
been more careful with terminology, as it seems to confuse.
What I'm suggesting, at risk of being ridiculed and speaking as a total
non-scientist baffled by much of the science under discussion, is that from
an artistic point of view, the way Alistair describes cold radiation is an
interesting description, maybe more understandable to some than some of the
science.
===========================================

David, I don't think that you need to be a scientist to understand what lies
behind this continuing challenge to Alistair, because at heart it's about
one basic principle: Scientific theories and explanations can be complicated
enough even for professional scientists. So there's a basic tenet that you
always look for the simplest theory that might apply, consistent with
explaining all the known observations. If you do have a simple theory that
appears to work then there's no need to look for a different or alternative
but more complex explanation. Indeed, it's actually counterproductive to
start introducing extra theories where none is needed because they just
serve to confuse and waste everyone's time rather than to clarify the issue,
as is amply demonstrated by this and previous similar threads.

(Of course, if the simple theory does _not_ explain all the known
observations then that's a different matter and new theories may be welcome.
In this scenario good scientists should be very open minded or receptive to
potential new theories. But that's not where we are with this particular
topic.)

So in the context of understanding simple heating and cooling effects as
they apply to radiative transfers, this is all perfectly well explained by
the conventional understanding of energy transfer by electromagnetic
radiation (visible light, infrared etc). There is just no need to introduce
alternative and more complex theories, especially if - as in Alistair's
case - there is not the slightest attempt to explain how 'cold radiation'
might conceivably work, ie what would be the corresponding agent for
mediating such transfers, eg what's the 'cold' equivalent to infrared
radiation?