Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
They're trying to suck in people who don't understand why their
claims are totally outrageous, nor why their demos actually do
nothing to support their claims.
I agree they are suspicious, and they give a bad name to magnet motor
o-u research -- which is a remarkable accomplishment! It is like
making McDonald's food look like gourmet fare.
It's exactly like the Newman motor, which had (or has) unmeasured
power in and unmeasured power out. In both cases, the scammer
claims the power out is larger than the power in but there is
absolutely no evidence to back this up.
Newman seems like a sad character. He has had such a tough life, I
think he believes his own claims. He is not making easy money. He is
not living high off the hog. He seems to work hard. His methods do
not support his claims, and that is why he selects these methods. But
I think he is fooling himself.
The people they're trying to suck in are people who don't understand
the importance of the "missing numbers".
Either that, or the people at Steorn themselves don't understand the
importance of the missing numbers.
My hunch is that these people are stupid, rather than dishonest.
When a man comes to town selling oil pressed from snakes which, he
says, cures syphilis, TB, and colitis, while reducing the national
debt, do you assume he's just stupid? Or do you suspect that maybe,
just maybe, he might have some notion that what he's doing isn't quite right?
That depends. If he is making a lot of money and enjoying high status
then he may be lying. But if he has invested his life savings in the
oil, and destroyed his marriage, and he is one step away from being a
homeless bum then I assume he believes it. Lying, in that case, is
not bringing him any benefits, so I assume he is telling the truth. I
would also assume he is crazy. Countless people believe in such things.
The key question in judging such people is to see whether they are
acting against their own interests. A person who bankrupts himself
and destroys his life is not acting in his own interest, so it is not
likely he has an ulterior motive.
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.
Poor comparison -- the Correas are not selling shares.
Someone is paying their bills. Gene Mallove was involved with them,
and through him I learned a lot about them. More than I wanted to
know. They are disagreeable people but I do not get the impression
they are scamming anyone.
If Steorn is a scam, it is an inept one.
Sez who? They've got investors. Ergo it's good enough for them,
whether or not you think it's inept.
They appear to working awfully hard for a gang of criminals, but I do
not know much about their affairs. Some people have suggested that
Mills is a scam, but I am sure that is not true because I know many
people who have visited him and they say he works long hours at
difficult experiments. That is not what a scammer does!
. . . or the people on Wall Street who
destroyed several investment banks and caused the loss of trillions of
dollars in 2008.
You including Madoff in that gang?
No, he was an out and out criminal. Most of the Wall Street people
who sold mortgages and crazy financial instruments thought they were
enriching themselves and their investors, and reducing risk. Many of
them lost their own money in these investments, so I am sure they did
not realize it was a bad idea. Naturally, there were some who knew
how bad it was.
At least, that is my impression reading various newspaper reports and
books about them. It could be that the authors are rewriting history.
Or maybe those "poor misguided" people of a few years earlier who
pulled down Enron?
They were criminals. They knew what they were doing. You can see that
from the trial testimony.
- Jed
