A reader writes:
HAL9000 has his own twitter account. After the iphone 4s announcement it tweeted "I think I went to school with Siri. Cute female computer but she talked too much."
Of course it is not the same HAL9000 you were talking about a couple of days ago. That was the company who created the 158 gigabytes of HD images of the shroud of Turin. I agree with the commenter to your post that these images should not be released without the chemistry to back them up.
Siri, BTW, is a new two-way voice recognition and speaking voice for the new iPhone 4S.
I had opined that it would be nice if the detailed HAL9000 HD images of the shroud were made public. The commenter, referred to above, was Yannick Clément, who wrote:
Personally, sorry but I don’t agree with what you say Dan. If an analysis of those images (no matter how good the resolution is) is not backed up by microscopic and chemical analysis, we walk in a VERY dangerous territory… Flower, coins, writings, etc., etc. The recent Shroud history is full of “I think I see” conclusions that are not backed-up by microscopic and, most importantly, chemical analysis !!! I have great fear that it would also be the case if those high definition images would be released freely to anyone interested. I think they should be kept aside UNTIL the Vatican permit a new series of direct tests on the relic (a kind of STURP 2 if you will). It’s so easy to see things on an image (especially on an image like the Shroud) but that doesn’t prove no way that it is real. That’s what I think…
I stand by my position. The things people think they see are almost completely from the 1931 high contrast, contrast enhanced Enrie photographs. These new high definition photographs do not have the background noise of the much older, technically inferior photographs. I very seriously doubt anyone will be seeing any more coins or lettering on these images. If they do we would then have some serious questions to ask ourselves. If we want credibility, we need to have open access to the data.
Hello Dan ! I think we’ll have to agree to disagree ! :-) No problem.
But one thing’s for sure : In the case of Shroud research, no image analysis will ever replace a good chemical analysis. And if the autorities should act like you want, I really believe it will open a new Pandora’s box with a new set of questions without any answers because no direct tests will come along with the images. I don’t think it’s the proper way to act. I think the HD images should only come to back-up new microscopic and chemical analysis and should only be used by a proper team of SCIENTISTS (that include at least an expert in imagery analysis) and not some wanna-bees.
Dan you wrote : “I very seriously doubt anyone will be seeing any more coins or lettering on these images.”
OH YEAH ??? ARE YOU REALLY SURE ABOUT THAT MY FRIEND ??? When I look at the post-STURP shroud research, I’m not convinced at all about that. Too much wackos out there…
And even if people don’t see coins, flowers and thing’s like that, image analysis only (without microscopic and chemical analysis) would leave the door open to a lot of misinterpretations and I think that could only thicken the mystery instead of solving it more… As I said, it would be a very dangerous territory.
I prefer to wait a bit until the Vatican will open the door to a new series of direct tests that should be backed-up by those HD images. Then, those image will be useful.