Give "Junk Science" a Chance

Wired Magazine and others likes to report on wacky Pentagon projects (Wired Danger Blog "Bizarro" http://blog.wired.com/defense/bizarro/index.html).

Some of the most infamous include:

<> Voice of God devices - http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/dod/vts.html
<> the gay bomb or halitosis bomb, winner of Ig Nobel Prize: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_bomb
<> use of psychics  - Men who Stare at Goats chronicles recent efforts and is being turned into a film by George Clooney; during the Cold War, the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) investigated ESP and psychokinesis and the Soviets did similar research


These sound ridiculous, but I think wacky research should be allowed.  It is the old J. S. Mill argument that by allowing crazy ideas, you can either A) gain or B) get a better understanding of why things do not work.

There was a time when a nuclear power seemed ridiculous - Rutherford called the idea "moonshine." 

So, in short: we should give military R&D the benefit of the doubt