As noted in a previous article, Jed Rothwell entered into an essay contest for the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi). I submitted my own Cold Fusion related essay, and didn't hear anything back from FQXi. Then Peter Gluck had his essay published, so I asked FQXi why mine was not published or declined.
They say it is because of an objection being raised to the "commercial" content in it--specifically the promotion of techshop. Perhaps there is some other educational institution I could propose as a baseline minimum that would give people access to machine shop tools relatively quickly? thanks Kevin O ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jed Rothwell's Essay: http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2000 Peter Gluck's Essay http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2015 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "How Should Humanity Steer the Future? With The LENR Techshop Y Prize Incentive Proposal My proposal is to set up a prize similar to the X Prize to reward and encourage Techshop (http://techshop.ws/) teams who replicate the recent Cold Fusion experiment at the Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project wherein Gamma Rays were detected after an excess heat event. Let's call it the Y Prize. The Gamma Ray finding was replicated by Hans Biberian within 48 hours. Measuring Gamma Rays would be the smoking gun to prove that it is a nuclear process taking place within these cold fusion experiments. MFMP Report Detection of Unusual Gamma Rays [Updated: Biberian Replicates] http://www.e-catworld.com/2013/11/mfmp-report-detection-of-unusual-gamma-rays/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What is the Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project (MFMP)? In essence, they are a grassroots, open-source scientific group trying to replicate Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR). It is named after Martin Fleischmann because he was one of the 2 original electrochemists who found this anomalous heat effect in 1989, and he passed away recently. His partner, Dr. Pons, is still alive and could therefore still win a Nobel Prize. http://www.quantumheat.org/index.php/en/ If one simply follows their latest recipe, a LENR device can be built and tested by anyone who has the means. They are currently using a wire that Dr. Celani, a prominent LENR researcher, gave to them in furtherance of their effort. They also plan to test a NANOR device which Dr. Hagelstein at Massachussetts Institute of Technology helped to develop. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why Techshop? http://techshop.ws/ They are the right people to encourage for a grass roots energy effort; and the interest in a Y Prize would help that worthy organization grow; if they can do it, almost anyone can do it and the generated excitement would turn the world upside down. Bootstrapping Techshop would help many other people who would like to do some kind of experiment on physics or simply to be creative. >From their website, http://techshop.ws/ TechShop is a vibrant, creative community that provides access to tools, software and space. You can make virtually anything at TechShop. Come and build your dreams! TechShop is a playground for creativity. Part fabrication and prototyping studio, part hackerspace and part learning center, TechShop provides access to over $1 million worth of professional equipment and software. We offer comprehensive instruction and expert staff to ensure you have a safe, meaningful and rewarding experience. Most importantly, at TechShop you can explore the world of making in a collaborative and creative environment. It is not known whether Techshop really has the equipment and resources to support this kind of an effort. However, the excitement generated towards such a replication effort would encourage Techshops around the country to acquire such equipment, working with National Instruments and others. For instance, Burt Rutan did not have the equipment to build devices that could go into space. But the Ansari X Prize spurred on his creative juices, bootstrapping his effort and focusing his vision. I been a fan of his since high school, when he independently came out with the VariEZ canard airplane. If an Italian High School Teacher (Hugo Abundo) could build a LENR device, then TechShop could. And I think National Instruments (NI) would help. NI has supported cold fusion research for years, offering LabView software free to all researchers in the field. Perhaps they are eager to sell their measurement devices into this market space the way Levi wanted to sell Jeans to miners in California in 1849 and Apple wanted to get kids hooked on computers at school. But it does not matter - they are eager to help. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What would success look like? An Open Source LENR device generates more heat than can be accounted for by chemical means. My suggestion is to set a threshold that the heat generated should have an energy density at least 10X that of any known chemical source for at least one hour so that measurement error is not a factor. An additional test would be the presence of Gamma Rays well above background. Measurements would be done by a team of Y Prize's choosing. The team should include at least one person trained to look for deception; basically, a magician. In reality all they would be measuring is Voltage, Current (for Input power) and Heat (for Output Power) plus using a Geiger counter for Gamma rays. Precision isn't all that necessary, when you think of it. It doesn't matter if the energy density exceeds 10X that of gasoline that you can measure it to 13.25X. I would suggest that there should be multiple replications for this prize to be claimed. Perhaps 3 separate Techshop teams need to have their projects tested independently and the 3 teams would share the prize. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where would the money come from? If I won this essay contest, I would expend my passion pursuing money for this prize. Recently, there was $5Million donated to University of Missouri for LENR research by billionaire Sidney Kimmel. Perhaps he would be generous with another $1Million for this effort. Australian Entrepreneur Dick Smith recently offered over $1Million for a convincing demo. He seemed focused on generating 1.5MW as the threshold to be met. Perhaps he can be persuaded to focus on an open-source science effort rather than using his money to sniff out a shyster. Crowdsourcing. There is a pent up interest in this technology. Here is an example: Dennis Cravens used crowdfunding to finance a LENR powered car. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fusion-powered-car-part-2 Scientific Instruments. This multi$billion company offered to give free measuring hardware and software to anyone working in LENR. They may enjoy getting some publicity in exchange for a donation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In conclusion, I hope that you will see that the time has come to give this technology the nudge it deserves. Eventually when the critical mass of believability is attained (like what happened with the Wright brothers), the world experiences a precipitating realization. That is what the Y Prize can do to effect billions of lives over the next few short years for relatively small investment of effort.
