Posted by Lurker (204.22.47.200) on June 09, 2003 at 12:34:17:
In Reply to: Re: Part III (INVITATION) posted by Darren on June 07, 2003 at 21:36:08:
: : I am assuming, of course, that your primary purpose for secrecy is to ensure that you get credit for the idea.
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: Pretty much. The internet has turned into a haven for thieves and cut-throats (copyrighted music downloading, software hacking and piracy, trojans and back door programs for gathering info, credit card theft, spy cams, virus writers, network sniffing by our government, and on and on) so as far as I'm concerned it's not even a question of whether someone *might* try to steal the idea... present company excluded, of course :-)
Correct me if I am wrong, but I had the impression that you would post the information about your overunity principle once you have a working machine. Assuming you are able to produce one. Once you do that, everyone who believes that your principe may be valid will immediately seek to build a machine of their own. Many will not believe you, of course, even if you provide pictures, vidio, etc, of your working machine.
Since your primary motive is to recieve credit for the idea, I see no reason to confine your idea to a small group other than a possible desire to be the first to build a working machine. To recieve credit for the idea itself requires witnesses and a public record that you were the one who had the idea first. A working machine is not necessary for this.
So, one reason for posting your ideas in a public forum, such as this one, is to establish your priority as the originator of the idea. Then, if anyone else happened to have the same idea before you, they will have no public record to prove it. If they build a machine which operates on the basis of your idea, everyone will assume that they must have gotten the idea from you, even if they did not. Pretty nice, eh? :-)
The purpose for building a working machine is simply to prove that your idea is valid. Few people will believe it without the machine. Many will no doubt critisize it even without understanding it. That is not relevant, though. By posting the idea, you have established that it is YOUR idea. If someone then claims that it is really their's, everyone who reads this forum will know otherwise. Your only risk is making yourself look like a fool if your idea proves not to be valid. The way I see it, that is a very small risk considering the stakes involved.
When you DO build a working machine based on your idea, or when someone ELSE builds a machine, your idea will be proved valid. I think it is important to emphasize that once you have published your idea in a public forum, it does not matter who builds the machine which proves it's validity. You still remain the originator of the idea, and everyone knows it. Thus, I think you are taking too much of the burden upon yourself by insisting that you personally be the one to prove that your idea is valid before you publish.
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: : I have found that too much secrecy can sometimes be self-defeating in this regard. Good public documentation and the good will of collegues are often of far greater importance.
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: I agree, but that's also why I feel a select group would be better than openly publishing. I'd like to keep it in the family (so to speak) until something physical exists.
Remember, the best way to prove that the idea came from you is to establish publicly available documantation of your idea. This documentation proclaims to the world that the ideas within it are YOURS. Keeping secrets confined to a small group does nothing to establish the public documentation which is necessary to get credit for originating the idea.
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: : If your purpose for secrecy is to retain control of the idea for the purpose of deriving a source of income, then I'm afraid that you may be competing with a number of other individuals and organizations who appear to be doing the same thing.
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: To me that's obvious... and yet another reason not to publish openly. It would get snapped up in a heartbeat... not only by competing businesses and private individuals, but also by scam artists and frauds who wish to enhance their scams with something th