Posted by Jeff Langworthy (66.82.9.38) on March 18, 2003 at 22:02:41:
In Reply to: Money/Jeff/Gill posted by David on March 18, 2003 at 17:29:49:
Dave,
I agree that science has had a history of being proven right, and the tools are getting better all the time. However, knowing that science has been wrong, even once, is an open invitation to think for oneself. One of my favorite quotes (from this website): "Advances are made by answering questions. Discoveries are made by questioning answers."- by Bernhard Haisch, astrophysicist.
>Do you have ANY information on this device? Size shape etc. If you know these people well enough to know they are credible, then they must have said something regarding the machine. Otherwise how could you really know any of it? Just asking.
From what I've been told, he had it running on their fireplace mantle for a long time, and a ball and teeter-totter trough were mentioned as being part of it. It was also said that he thought it was pretty useless because it would stop any time you tried to put any kind of load on it. That's about all I can remember being told.
>Finally I question why anyone working in this area would want to reveal anything they are doing. Sure, you say fame and fortune don't interest you, but it takes money to do anything worthwhile in this world, and there are several sources that would provide you with an instant fortune were this ever to be achieved. Think about it. I think it's because no one really knows but you hope, and so every one is shouting out in the dark, hoping for some revelation, and not really thinking about the big picture.
Building mechanical wheels with common tools and materials available in the 1700's shouldn't have to involve a lot of money. As a "hobby", there are much more expensive ones. I would welcome any good fortune that came my way, and would be happy to have enough income from it to meet expenses. In fact, I would like to see a lot of people make a good living or have a better life from the machine's existence. The big picture, as I see it, is that the knowledge of how to build a working wheel should be made public via the internet, where anyone in the world could benefit, and the idea would spread fast enough so that it could never be lost again. The inventer would be known, which could be both good and bad, but at least the idea would be out and the world could start using it.
Since you asked, I'm 53 and work as a service technician on commercial power equipment. I play music for fun, and am starting on my second childhood :)
Thanks for the reference to the Yahoo group.
Regards,
Jeff Langworthy