A reader from Chicago writes:
We are not dealing with trade secrets. Why not allow unfettered access to the HAL 9000 images? What is the Archdiocese of Turin afraid of? Is there something that can be seen on those images that we don’t know about? Are they afraid of loosing control of research and information dissemination as they did with STURP in 1978? Look at how they tried to keep Bill Meacham from asking questions at Dallas 2005. They lost control in 2008 when the organizers of the Ohio State conference kept them out of the loop. That was a good thing. In response they didn’t even send a representative as though that somehow didn’t give the conference legitimacy.
There isn’t going to be a STURP 2 as someone suggested there should be. There isn’t going to be access to the cloth unless Turin is running the show, authorizing examination and controlling the release of results. That kind of control will never be acceptable to legitimate scientists.
Release the images. Fortunately, chemical analysis by SSG continues on existing bits of fibers that Turin doesn’t control.
As for the fear that people will see imaginary things on the better images, so what? They will anyway with old inferior images. What about the man in Australia who sees torn away toes when he re-photographs regular photographs of the Shroud with a cheap webcam. And what about the man who sees miracle images by scanning a lenticular blinky shroud souvenir. These folks don’t need high definition images, just wild imaginations and any old image.
There are a lot of people who can discern real scientific information from the HAL 9000 images. Dr. Schneider’s Ohio paper says it all. I say free the HAL 9000.
Ray Schneider’s paper can be found here.
Question : What is the Archdiocese of Turin afraid of?
Answer : All the crackpots in this world of the Shroud… And they are numerous !!! Some of them see coins on the shroud… Some others say see flowers… Some others see writtings… Some others see the crown of thorns… The list goes on and on and on and on…
Imagine what those people would see with those high definition photos ? Maybe, they would see the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse ! ;-)
Seriously, without chemical analysis, those photos are better where they are… Far away from those crackpots.
this will go on until the apocalypse. i see writing in italian which proves Jesus was italian.
I on the other hand agree 100% with the reader from Chicago. Has anyone thought that maybe these clearer more defined pictures can possibly clear the whole question of the so-called ‘artifacts’ supposedly seen on the Shroud? Furthermore, YES, what is the Archdiocese afraid of? Personally I question much of what they have done in the past and still do today. They are partially at fault for the catastrophy of the 1988 carbon dating, taking a ‘single’ sample from a most definitely ‘known’ contaminated area. They would have had to been idiots not to have known about it with all the images and information at their disposal for months beforehand. Then there is the ‘secret’ restoration in 2002 without even approaching real experts on the issue. They have apparently vacuumed the complete Shroud, cut out all charred areas etc, etc; …So why not offer this material for study? It really makes you wonder what is up with them? I say make the HD photos of the Shroud available to everyone, if for nothing else but for everyone to admire the beauty of this amazing icon. On another note; If the Shroud is the actual burial Shroud of Jesus, would not the Church be working against our Lord’s wishes by not openly allowing access to all people? Wouldn’t that be exactly what Jesus would want? …I think yes.
Ron