Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
Is there any evidence that they're not a scam?
Well . . . the fact that they publish what appears to be a full schematic and it includes the battery is weak evidence that they believe what they say. Scammers hide the details. Assuming it does not work, a motivated person could build one from the schematic and prove conclusively that it does not work, by various methods discussed here.
Whether it actually works or not I have no idea, since I have not been following the story and I do not know what this demonstration demonstrates, if anything. From the messages here and a cursory examination of the mass media reports I gather it demonstrates nothing.
My hunch is that these people are stupid, rather than dishonest. If this is a scam it seems like a tough way to make a living. And if the gadget actually works, and produces anomalous energy, they are still stupid, because they could easily demonstrate that rather than muddying the waters with inconclusive demonstrations.
I have seen many people make over unity claims that I consider invalid, but I get the strong impression that most of them sincerely believe what they are saying. The Correas are a good example.
If Steorn is a scam, it is an inept one. I could make a fake demo that looks more conclusive and persuasive.
It is impossible to know what to make of such people, but history shows that people at every level of society are often stupid and inept to an astounding extent, and this is the main cause of disasters. See, for example, the army generals of World War I, the U.S. invasion of Iraq described in the book "Fiasco," or the people on Wall Street who destroyed several investment banks and caused the loss of trillions of dollars in 2008. My impression is that most people who destroy nations and economies and who kill hundreds of thousands of people for no reason are not malevolent. They are stupid. They also tend to have large egos and small imaginations, and they usually go to their graves convinced they are right, despite all evidence to the contrary.
- Jed
