Perpetual Energy Machine Getting Lots of Attention

Many users have written to tell us about a magnetic machine promising "infinite clean energy". Engadget has the first picture of the device and is reporting that the announcement (along with a short video) of this supposed device will be released later tonight. "CEO Sean McCarthy tells SilconRepublic how it works. Namely, the time variance in magnetic fields allows the Orbo platform to 'consistently produce power, going against the law of conservation of energy which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed.' He goes on to say 'It's too good to be true but it is true. It will have such an impact on everything we do. The only analogy I can give is if you had absolute proof that God wasn't real.'" In my experience if something seems too good to be true it generally is. I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Sure.

[GWLlosa]

I hear there's gonna be a demo on the Brooklyn Bridge. It just so happens I have purchased a deed to said bridge. Where's my cut?

Breaking the Law

[Anonymous Coward]

Breaking the Law of Conservation of Energy is a serious offense. One could find themselves in Guantanamo very quickly for breaking this law. The oil companies will not let this stand!

Lisa, get in here!

[TrekkieGod]

In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

Mr. Madison...

[going_the_2Rpi_way]

What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul

Not the only game in town

[PacoTaco]

Unfortunately no one is interested in my machine that produces infinite dirty energy. :(

Stop It

[asolipsist]

If these asses are pulling energy from Earth's magnet field (and if it looks like free energy, they probably are), somebody please stop them, we need it.

Typo

[mhannibal]

It's a typo - "allows the Orbo platform to 'consistently produce power" should be "allows the Orbo platform to 'consistently produce revenue".

Re:Not really perpetual motion, though.

[Tatarize]

If that's true than we can't really use em. Wouldn't that drain off the magnetic field a bit? Wouldn't that get us bombarded with radiation?

*puts on tin foil hat*

Must protect myself from radiation! Is there nothing this thing can't do!

Re:As they say...

[whopub]

I don't know about perpetual energy, but I've been working on perpetual lethargy for years. I wish I could publish a paper on it, but that would ruin years of research.

do we want to end up like Mars?

[Dster76]

everyone knows that by creating Orbos, the natives of Mars lost their magnetosphere and ensured their civilization's premature demise.

(fake science makes for fun ingredients for science fiction!)

I know where it gets its energy from....

[3seas]

...from all the criticism and energy people waste their time on generating against this thing.

See conservation of energy isn't being broken.... and the source is perpetual....

Re:Not really perpetual motion, though.

[Tatarize]

Well, really, it would seem that the Earth's magnetic field is probably too weak to really provide much power. However, if this individual managed to convert sunlight (very energy rich) into electric power... that would be amazingly useful and would have near limitless potential.

Re:As they say...

[DrLov3]

Homer : Lisa, in this house we respect the laws of thermo-dynamics, go to your room!

Re:Lisa, get in here!

[The Hobo]

Obligatory video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oWorVoeZd3A [youtube.com]

Finally, "Free As In Speech" Energy!

[pdbaby]

People like you make me so mad! You and your perpetual energy smear campaign. Thermodynamics thermoshamammics. For Too long we've been governed by the laws of physics. Energy wants to be free (as in speech), man!

The Future

[alexgieg]

I know how the story unfolds. The device will work, by extracting magnetic energy from Earths own magnetic field. In a few years, Steorn will be one of the hugest and most profitable companies in the world, causing oil consumption to almost stop.

Steorn's main geomagnetic extraction complex will, over time, develop into a city, and then into a gigantic megalopolis, which people will call simply "Steorn". The Steorn megalopolis will be circle-shaped, powered by eight gigantic Orbo generators (also delimiters of the city's eight sectors), and divided into two vertical levels, the lower scum one, where low wage workers live, and the high one, were executives, rich people etc. live and work.

Over time, a quasi-religious movement will develop affirming that Steorn's consumption of geomagnetic energy is actually causing Earth to die, and the most fanatic among these will form an eco-terrorist movement dedicated to the destruction of all Orbo generators. The funny thing is: this movement will be actually correct! Worse: not only will Steorn be in fact slowly destroying the world, but they will have also developed advanced genetics research on an alien found years before, using these discoveries to genetically enhance their own self-defense troops.

The history of our future proceeds in many details, but I'll make it short. Suffice it to say that one of these troops will discover all about his increased abilities, the alien, the Orbo generators destroying Earth, and will decide to accelerate the process, by causing a meteor to strike Earth. Earth itself, in a move indicating some kind of self-awareness, will fight back by redirecting its own geomagnetic field against the meteor, destroying it. The collateral effect of this, however, will be a magnetic induced disease over humanity, who will slowly start to die. A cure will be found, but not before much damage happens.

Due to all of this, the world will realize they must stop using geomagnetism as a source of energy, turn off all Orbo generators, and finally turn back to that old means of power generation left behind decades ago: petroleum. So much, in fact, that even the former leader of the anti-Orbo eco-terrorist group will become one of the earliest investors in oil extraction and oil-based energy production.

Then history will repeat itself.

Re:Because Slashdot exists?

[Poltras]

Can you make energy off these? If you create and aliment a flame-war, for example?

Re:Flawed... even down to the analogy. God?

[Pogue Mahone]

God is real unless explicitly declared as integer.

Sorry --- old Fortran joke.

(For the youngsters out there: in "traditional" Fortran, variables didn't need to be explicitly declared. Those starting with the letters i to n were integers. The rest were reals.)

In Soviet Russia...

[tbcpp]

...the law of Energy Conservation breaks you!

Re:The Future

[Zak3056]

At some point in all of the above, man will discover magic--and promptly stop using it when he discovers that it takes the form of ten-minute-long animations that cannot be skipped.

(by the way, when do the Chocobos become involved?)

Re:Finally, "Free As In Speech" Energy!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey Man, quit it! Energy doesn't like to be anthropomorphised.

Re:Not the only game in town

[adrianmonk]

Unfortunately no one is interested in my machine that produces infinite dirty energy. :(

Is your machine called "the internet"?

Re:Mr. Madison...

[hotdiggitydawg]

CoE is, in a sense, a consequence of time.

As opposed to the Orbo, which is simply a waste of it...

Re:Flawed... even down to the analogy. God?

[ceoyoyo]

Silly Fortran. Try an untyped language. Then God is whatever you first assign to it. Why, God could be a string!

Actually, I hear there are people who think believing in strings is equivalent to believing in a god.

Yeah yeah

[Dunbal]

Whoa, my crackpot meter pegged with just the intro! Surely we can harness the heat from all this BS and solve our energy problems forever!

Re:Flawed... even down to the analogy. God?

[ichigo 2.0]

Really? I'm not saying he does, but I'm really interested in this evidence, can you give some examples?

Mankind.

Re:Flawed... even down to the analogy. God?

[Dachannien]

Man: Hey, aren't you a string?
String: No, I'm a frayed knot.

*ducks*

Re:You're out to lunch

[MadUndergrad]

Hey, given the formatting, your post demonstrates time-reversal!

Re:/. has jumped the fucking shark

[Xichekolas]

Good job...

(I just wanted to say 'good job' too!)

Re:Use finesse

[ultranova]

The only "catch" is that they tap the energy of Earth's magnetic field.

Buf if the magnetic field gets weaker, the compasses stop working, and the boy scouts can't use them to find their way in the forest. Won't someone pelase think of the children ?

Oh, and we'll all die horribly under the particle bombardment of solar wind, but first things first.

Open Source Energy!

[aled]

Energy wants to be free (as in speech), man!

Let's not use any Energy that is not GPL'ed!!! Closed sources Energies are the cause of all evil!!!

Re:Finally, "Free As In Speech" Energy!

[Walt Dismal]

I have perfected a process to turn useless comments in Slashdot into energy! All I need are a few investors in this wonderful Web 2.0 opportunity. Please email me at [e-mail]

Re:Flawed... even down to the analogy. God?

[rejecting]

You just told a guy with a 4 digit slashdot ID, That he must be new to the internet. As we say in the gaming world. GG.

Wait....

[I7D]

Is this the joke where we wrap the skeletons of Edison, Watt, Ampre, Einstein, Newton, and the like with magnets - and then wrap copper wires around them to generate power by them turning in their graves?

Re:Power from the Moon's Gravity:

[Kj0n]

I don't think tidal power really qualifies as a clean power source. Of course, now it seems there is an abundance of 'free' power, but in 50 years, when we have taken too much, the moon will crash into the earth.

The same is true for harnassing power from the earth's magnetic field: there certainly will be side effects when too much power is taken.

Re:1.0 ** -64 seconds

[i kan reed]

Your title was "1.0 ** -64 seconds". That's still 1 second.

Re:Power from the Moon's Gravity:

[fbjon]

Just make the generators out of rubber duckies.

Re:Power from the Moon's Gravity:

[beezly]

... I will acknowledge that WP isn't the holy grail of Knowledge.

Aaaiiiiiieeeeee! My world has just exploded!

Re:Finally, "Free As In Speech" Energy!

[tzot]

Energy wants to be free (as in speech), man!

Actually, in Steorn's case, it would be free as in beer.

For the time being, only this discussion is free (as in jazz).

Re:Power from the Moon's Gravity:

[Anonymous Coward]

He meant "we" as in us in the free world, not those Godless Commies in France.

silly pseudobabble

[Anonymous Coward]

Try that fly-by trick enough, and Jupiter will fall out of orbit.

Oh really? Where, pray tell, do you pretend that Jupiter will land, should this occur?