Documentation to "My Case"

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Written by Tibor Gasparik on February 13, 2001.
Presented at the 11th V. M. Goldschmidt Conference in Homestead, Virginia, on May 23, 2001.

Let me tell you a story. This is a little parable called The Evidence. The story takes place during the reign of the king Solomon II, also known as The Geophysicist.
One day, two scientists came to the king for advice.
“Oh mighty king, we have a problem. We have these two beautiful Theories of the Earth, one for a layered, chondritic Earth, the other for a homogeneous Earth made of pyrolite. But we cannot agree which one is correct. Can you rule?”
The king replied: “There is only one way to settle this argument. You have to go away and find The Evidence. You have 20 years to do so.”
After 20 years, the scientists came back.
Have you found The Evidence?” asked the king.
“Yes, we have, the wisest of all wise men.”
The king took them to his new lab that he had proudly built in the meantime with the generous funding that only a king can get. In the middle was a giant beam balance, big enough for the piles of rocks that the king thought they would bring as The Evidence.
“Place The Evidence on the balance!” ordered the king.
The first scientist pulled out from his pocket a snuffbox containing a small pile of sand. These were all the inclusions that he had painstakingly collected in 20 years from thousands of carats of diamonds. He placed the little pile on the balance. Nothing happened; the balance did not even register.
The second scientist said: “I do not have any samples. But I have 20 years worth of publications in support of my theory.” With this, he placed a huge stack of reprints on the other side of the balance. His side sank to the ground.
“The Evidence is clear,” declared the king, “and it speaks for itself. You don’t even need my verdict anymore, you can now reach your own conclusion.”