I find this economics thread intriguing. Because it asks the question that
so few of us are actually asking: what is the ultimate purpose of all this
invention?
Sure, much of it is generated from mankinds innate curiosity. Specialists in
individual fields find anomolies and pursue them. Tinkerers follow instinct
to put together soemthing that benefits them. Others make discoveries purely
by accident. And some, like Hamel, claim to follow directions from
extraterrestrials. But thats the nature of this field.
And then others make breakthroughs in one area or another and try to market
their new idea. Now normally, markets are pretty fluid and open. Solar
calculators are hardly going to be suppressed. Nor is a new type of
software, despite Microsoft's best efforts.
But energy seems to be quite different. It is in a unique and curious
situation of supporting the 20th Century's development (what doesn't run on
oil or electricity?) and is fixed in the middle of highly politicised
science (remember Pons and Fleishmann? Now scientists claim they can't get
readings anywhere near the claimed readings. Ditto for the CETI device). It
is also an international political matter.
Now, take Ogle, the mechanical genius who devised a carb in the 70's to run
an small car 360 miles on one gallon of gas. Huge publicity. Escorted by
bankers to fancy parties. Drove around the country followed by news crews
(who stopped far more often to fill up than he did).
Dead at 28.
The patent is still available. Jerry's put plans for a water powered car
from '35 up on Keelynet, complete with risks and precautions to take. But
the world's not suddenly going to put the hose into the fuel tank tomorrow.
And thus seems the predicament. Zenergy, despite their claims of having 3
dozen working f/e devices a few months ago, just doesn't seem to put out
anything tangible. Just money-back guarantee informational bits & pieces (
Mr. Perrault has given more info away than those people, so I don't think
its fair to attack him for wishing to be a little more conservative with his
knowledge).
Minato is another one. What better way to improve the life of thousands of
third world countries than a simple mechanical pump? The task of getting
water is alleviated, making life easier for BILLIONS of people. Nothing odd
or scary technology. Nothing worth suppressing. But currently going nowhere.
Which kinda sets up the question: what difference will the Internet make?
Some. But whether it will be enough is the unanswered question. Thousands of
fe pages are up with promises of a revolution within months. The sort of
"Its at Wal-mart tomorrow" fanaticism.
IMHO, there are few people worth listening to. Either they're lying or
they're deluded. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't give careful and worthy
consideration to each claim; its just that we shouldn't waste our time with
definite losers.
Getting it 'out there' is going to be, I think, akin to a war. Perhaps a MLM
structure is best. But if you're going to power a house with it, one thing
that has to be accounted for is insurance. Some guy had a solar/wind
generation setup, when his TV exploded the insurance company refused to
cover them. Perhaps its still cheaper than paying a monthly power bill?
Dr Jones