From: Terry Blanton
> But why isn't this thread labeled as off-topic?
Look at the original message. John Galt was the fictional inventor of
a free energy engine. ;-)
Aha... OK I had forgotten that it was 'free energy'...
BTW here is what Wiki has to say about "Galt's motor"
John Galt invented a new type of electrical apparatus
described in the book as a motor. This motor is revolutionary because
it uses static electricity from the
atmosphere as its main source of
energy, requiring only a small amount of conventional fuel to run the
conversion mechanism. The motor is described as super-efficient, and
capable of revolutionizing the industry of the world. This approximates
a perpetual motion machine of the second kind, a machine which
spontaneously converts thermal energy into mechanical work (versus
conventional heat engines, which convert thermal energy into mechanical
work by transferring thermal energy from one reservoir to another).
The theory is that the power is drawn from the environment. The book
gives the source as static electricity from the air, and suggests that
a new physics was necessary to tap it. Additionally, the motor could be
seen as a metaphor...
[side note] The curious thing is that we may be on the cusp of something
similar in 2009.
... more on "Fictional technology"
Because the book centers on industrial capitalism, Ayn Rand mentions
many technologies throughout the book. In addition to normal technologies, she
introduces several fictional inventions, including refractor rays (Gulch
mirage), Rearden Metal, a sonic death ray ("Project X"), motors powered by
static electricity, and a sophisticated electrical torture device.
The depiction of progress coming in leaps and bounds at the hands of heroic
entrepreneurs is similar to Joseph Schumpeter's theory of Creative destruction
(expressed in Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy).
Rearden metal
Rearden metal is a fictitious metal alloy invented by Hank Rearden. It is
lighter and stronger than traditional steel, and is to steel what steel was to
iron. It is described as greenish-blue. Among its ingredients are iron and
copper, two metals seldom found together in real-world alloys.
Initially, no one is willing to use Rearden metal due to an
unsupported but nonetheless damaging report by the State Science
Institute which implies the metal is weak and prone to breaking. The
introduction of the metal is seen as potentially damaging to the
already established steel industries. Dagny Taggart,
regardless of the public opinion, places an order for Rearden metal
when she needs rails to rebuild the Rio Norte Line which is in
disrepair. Once the metal is proven in the Rio Norte Line, the
"looters" seek both to place it on the market for everyone, and to deny
it to the industrialists who would make the most profitable use of it.
Later, the formula for the metal itself is extorted by way of blackmail
from Rearden and dubbed "Miracle Metal".
"Rearden Metal" and the plot concerning its fate in Atlas Shrugged are
strikingly similar[11] to a series of 1930's Little Orphan Annie strips created
by Harold Gray. According to columnist Brian Doherty:
One Annie storyline [Comic historian Brian] Schwartz described makes
you wonder whether Ayn Rand had been reading the funnies with notepad
in hand in the 1930s, when you think about Atlas Shrugged's Rearden metal:
Gray followed his pro-millionaire saga with a remarkably
full-throated antiunion story line. In it, Annie befriends a homeless
scientist, Eli Eon, inventor of Eonite, a cheap, easy-to-produce,
indestructible material. Warbucks envisions it ending the Depression.
Millions will work to mass-produce it, creating materials for housing
that millions more will build. A corrupt union, led by John L. Lewis
look-alike Claude Claptrap and liberal, long-haired journalist Horatio
Hack, demands Warbucks give Eonite “to the pee-pul” or they’ll strike.
Their workers burn down Warbucks’s factory (he hadn’t gotten around to
building it out of Eonite yet), killing Eon. The secret of Eonite, and
to ending the Depression, dies with him.
Project X
Project X, also known as Project Xylophone, is an invention of the scientists
at the State Science Institute, requiring tons of Rearden metal. It is a sonic
weapon, capable of destroying everything in a 100-mile radius. The scientists
claim that the project will be used to preserve peace and squash rebellion. The
mechanism is destroyed towards the end of the book, and emits a sonic pulse that
destroys everything within a hundred mile radius, including Cuffy Meigs
and Dr. Stadler, as well as half of the Taggart Bridge, which spanned the
Mississippi River, and was, effectively, the lifeline of New York City.
Rand also mentioned technologies that were unavailable at the time, but which
have since been invented. Examples are voice activated door locks (Gulch power
station), and palm-activated door locks (Galt's NY lab).
