Alchemy was more than just a collection of blind rituals. It was based on a natural philosophy which may contain some precious insights that were buried with the rise of the mechanical philosophy.
Harry --- Original Message ---- > From: OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson <svj.orionwo...@gmail.com> > To: vortex-l@eskimo.com > Sent: Thu, April 14, 2011 11:04:47 AM > Subject: Re: [Vo]:Is it nuclear, or is it Memorex? > > Robin, Harry, > > Just to clarify some of my ramblings... > > My use of the term "alchemy" was an oversimplified reference to the > desire to transmute common elements into valuable elements... i.e. the > desire to "transmute" lead into gold. The point I was trying to imply > is that the old-world "alchemical" (almost ritualistic) pursuit of > creating gold from common elements is, in a sense, metaphorically > equivalent to the new-world pursuit of generating lots of clean cheap > excess heat, or energy. > > I would even go so far as to speculate here that what Rossi seems to > be doing with his e-cat reactors is analogous to an alchemical > "ritual" - in the sense that if you follow the recipe to the letter, > and in the right sequence, it would seem that you can end up > generating lots of heat. No one yet knows why these "ritualistic" > sequences-of-events work in the manner that they do. That's what > rituals are really good at doing: Producing a desired result, > particularly when the fundamental physics that might scientifically > explain what's happening remains (a present) a baffling mystery. > > Alas, I've often noted that some of the metaphors I conjure up > occasionally cause more confusion than their intended purpose. > > Win a few metaphors... lose a few metaphors. > > Regards > Steven Vincent Johnson > www.OrionWorks.com > www.zazzle.com/orionworks > >
