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In reply to the discussion: NASA Tests "Impossible" Perpetual Motion Drive; Says it Works [View all]DirkGently
(12,151 posts)83. Nope. "“Alright!” they said. “We’ll test your stupid drive that won’t work.”
No, it's pretty plain that rigid skeptics have consistently shot this particular idea down with their usual wooden-headed interpretation of the way knowledge and discovery works.
It's right there in the article, and any quick Google on any of these types of drives will prove it.
Once again, because this particular thing has not been "proven" according to the most traditional scientific step-by-step methods, it has been decried as "woo" by many, who may nor may not be proven wrong.
There have been speculations that usable energy might be extracted using this energy as a source using something called the Casimir effect, but this is almost certainly pseudoscience, as it would require using an extremely large collector device similar in some ways to an electronic capacitor, but much larger and thinner, with a vacuum dielectric; there is no knowledge currently extant that can allow the creation of such a collector cell, and even if it was possible, the zero point energy in an area the size of the earth is so small as to be fairly useless. [1]
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Zero-point_energy
"Woo" as used by skeptics is also of course a made-up slang term that has precious little to do with "The English language" as you put it.
Interesting that you insist the definition of "woo" applies only to things so far out of bounds as to be literally impossible to test. That is not at all the way the term is used by many, who apply it to plenty of possible or even likely ideas with the same kind of zealous scorn.
I guess the idea is that you can call anything you want "bullshit" until someone smarter makes a leap, at which point you can say "We always knew that," right?
It's a hallmark of the half-smart, if you ask me. People with no spark of creativity or imagination get very angry with any idea that isn't plodding, pedestrian, and generally understood before it's even examined.
That's the actual "bullshit" don't you think?
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I'm thinking that Big Oil will thwart this somehow because of its potential for
kelliekat44
Aug 2014
#55
the term "woo" is such silly BS -- it truly diminishes some important groundbreaking work
nashville_brook
Aug 2014
#2
Mmmm. Not quite. Electricity is not the fuel. Satellites are not the only anticipated application.
DirkGently
Aug 2014
#8
Could it be possible that other "particles" could be used for electricity generation as they're
Uncle Joe
Aug 2014
#77
Fuel in this case is simply propellent, unlike in chemical rocket engines, which are...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2014
#69
It kind of is if quantum fluctuation particles drive the engine and are created perpetually .
Kablooie
Aug 2014
#14
Yeah, but it still takes energy (electricity) to accelerate the reaction mass..
sir pball
Aug 2014
#74
Correct me if I'm wrong, but these particles are pretty much everywhere in the universe.
backscatter712
Aug 2014
#58
God-fucking-dammit, it is NOT woo coming true, and its not a perpetual motion machine...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2014
#68
Bullshit, if someone was claiming the quantum consciousness was driving the device...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2014
#82
Nope. "“Alright!” they said. “We’ll test your stupid drive that won’t work.”
DirkGently
Aug 2014
#83
We've known of this phenomenon for a long time as zero-point energy or the Casimir effect
derby378
Aug 2014
#70
The Casimir effect is not considered woo, but some of the claims associated with it are
derby378
Aug 2014
#90
The only people I've ever heard talk about the Casimir effect are woo-peddlers
Hugabear
Aug 2014
#99
With a flux capacitor, powered by cold fusion, the possibilities are limitless (nt)
Nye Bevan
Aug 2014
#106