[extropy-chat] Casimir Torque Project

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Hal Finney <hal at finney.org> wrote:
> Adrian Tymes writes:
> > http://www.wingedcat.com/ct/casimirtorque.txt
> > http://www.wingedcat.com/ct/casimirtorque.gif
> > ...
> > The general reaction I've gotten from academics who know quantum
> > physics is that it doesn't violate what we know - but they don't
> want
> > to say it should work unless I can produce a working prototype.
> 
> I gather that you realize that this is a perpetual motion machine of
> the first kind - it violates conservation of energy. It's no
> different in principle from the overbalanced wheels of the
> medievals.  Just because it relies on quantum effects, that
> doesn't free you from the need to conserve energy. I'm curious who
> these academics are who are so willing to imagine
> that a machine can work which violates such a fundamental principle
> 
> Mike Lorrey will probably complain that I am being a naysayer.  

Yup. Adrian, welcome to the Perpetual Propellerhead Brotherhood.

As I'd once said, Prof. John Cramer once said my Lorrey drive would
work if the working mass operated in the relativistic range (as did
Sasha).

> I'm sorry,
> but at this point in time I don't see how we can credibly propose to
> violate the laws of physics.  I'm not saying that you can't spend
> your time doing whatever you like, but people should not expect this
> machine to work.  You would do better to apply your budding
> micromachining skills to a design that is consistent with the laws
> of nature.

I'm gonna start working on my fricassied crow recipe. Either Hal is
wrong, or a whole lot of physicists are gonna have to give back their
Nobel prizes...

Hal, Hal, Hal......any idiot can figure out how to make nano-wing-nuts
once they master the common skills. Yes, you can probably make a mint
figuring out how to make nano-wing-nuts in mass quantities, but
wing-nuts don't win nobel prizes, nor do they save the world.

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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