I found the following statement by Sean very interesting:
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single8723
Quote, "Steorn say that the intense heat should not affect future applications
of the Orbo technology as this is just a prototype. ***The prototype was set up
in the museum on Sunday and as of Tuesday night, McCarthy said it was
functioning perfectly until yesterday when it froze suddenly.***"
So the London Orbo was running just perfectly until it froze July 4th.
Paul Lowrance
Jed Rothwell wrote:
Stiffler Scientific wrote:
What you said makes sense, except;
Unless the device is so costly and complex that you can only afford
'one' or
have only managed to get 'one' to work, I would think it prudent that you
have another in the wings to be rushed in for just this type of problem.
That is what I had in mind when I described Charlie and the burning
power supplies. Always pack a spare!
"Charlie" in this case is honors of the "two Charlies" who accompanied
the Wright brothers on some of their most crucial tests and public
demonstrations, Charles Taylor and Charles Furnas. The Wrights
experienced dozens of disastrous public demonstrations, ranging from the
time the airplane did not take off in front of reporters (Dayton, OH,
1904) to the time the airplane crashed and killed the passenger (the
official U.S. Army tests, Washington DC, 1908). They had dozens of other
crashes and accidents. (By the way, the two Charlies were never to blame
as far as I know.) If they had staked their success on a single
demonstration they would have failed. On the other hand, it took only
two successful demonstrations to make them the most famous people on
earth in 1908.
If the device is so expensive or complex and borders this close to
working
or not working then the public demo in my mind is only to get new
money to
hold off the old providers (VC's) and get new cash to keep everyone quiet
for a bit longer.
I disagree. Marginally functional technology can be successfully
demonstrated, but you have take the right approach and say the right
things, to keep the stakes low in the event of a failure. Edison, the
Wrights and many others screwed up demonstrations. Edison's early
incandescent lights exploded and set fire to his parlor during a
demonstration to investors. His wife, who was used to such things, put
out the fire while redirecting their attention to tea and snacks.
Unless I have my history wrong, old Henry Ford did not present a lot
highly
complex auto before he sold a working one. Think is was simple at the
start
and grew in complexity.
Actually, Ford is a counter-example. He started by building a racing
car, which was a complicated and finicky thing, and he won an important
race. Auto racing was in its infancy back then, so no record lasted for
long, but he leveraged his short-lived fame to get investors to put
money into his plans for a simpler passenger vehicle.
I suppose if he had lost that race, he might have won the next one. But
it was still a daring, all-or-nothing venture. There were not many races
back then, and the drivers were often killed or wounded.
- Jed
