From: hal@finney.org
Date: Sun Jan 30 2000 - 18:00:53 MST
I looked over that site a few weeks ago. They had a paper which resolved
an apparent paradox. The paradox was that it appeared that a certain
cyclic engine would extract energy from the zero point fluctuations,
and would be a perpetual motion machine. The solution was that the
assumptions in the engine analysis were invalid, the energy levels were
not what had been assumed, and the engine wouldn't work.
Given this, why go on with the research? Well, it would be interesting if
they can actually measure some results and verify that their calculations
are correct. But I seemed to detect a whiff of hope that maybe they
would find a slightly different engine and this would would be a true
perpetual motion machine. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that
one to work out! I hope they don't push this angle too hard; it's pretty
questionable IMO to lead people on with the hope of this outcome.
Hal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:26:33 MST