Thursday, August 17, 2006

Time for Malthus to Take It in the Ass

Oh it would be grand to stick it up the Malthusian ass of the English

Irish tech firm throws down "free energy" gauntlet


DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Irish technology firm issued a challenge to the world's scientific community on Friday to give its verdict on technology it says smashes one of the basic laws of physics by producing "free energy."

Dublin-based Steorn said it had placed an advertisement in The Economist magazine seeking 12 top physicists to examine the technology -- based on the interaction of magnetic fields -- and publish their results.

"We fully accept there is going to be cynicism surrounding this but what we're saying to the world of science is come and prove us wrong," said Steorn Chief Executive Sean McCarthy.

"The answer to the question we're posing is too big not to look," he added.

The concept of "free energy" -- which contradicts the first law of thermodynamics that in layman's terms states you cannot get more energy out than you put in -- has divided the scientific community for centuries.

The Internet is awash with claims to have cracked the problem using magnets, coils and even crystals.

McCarthy, a founder of Steorn in 2000, said the company discovered the technology while using magnets to try to devise more efficient wind generators and had spent the past three years developing it.

"We put in a small amount of mechanical energy and we get a large amount out ... but until this thing is validated by science we won't be doing anything commercial with it," he said.


**Malthus was the father of economic niggardliness. This from Wikipedia:

Malthus's views were largely developed in reaction to the optimistic views of his father and his associates, notably Rousseau. Malthus's essay was also in response to the views of the Marquis de Condorcet. In An Essay on the Principle of Population, first published in 1798, Malthus made the famous prediction that population would outrun food supply, leading to a decrease in food per person. (Case & Fair, 1999: 790). He even went so far as to specifically predict that this must occur by the middle of the 19th century, a prediction which failed for several reasons, including his use of static analysis, taking recent trends and projecting them indefinitely into the future, which almost always fails for complex systems.




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