For almost a thousand years, we have recorded records of individuals striving to create endless energy for free. Fossil fuels overshadowed the need for free energy for a time, and the scientific acceptance of the first and second laws of thermodynamics as fact put a damper on perpetual motion claims.
Around this same time (the mid-1800s into the 1900s) we begin to see a trend where charlatans see perpetual motion claims as a quick and easy scam to separate potential investors with their money. In the early days, water was often the mystical source of free energy. Nowadays, it is almost exclusively magnetism. These "inventors" (charlatans) often try to convince investors that the laws of thermodynamics do not apply to magnetism, or even boldly claim that the laws are wrong or incomplete. Whatever the case, the plan is often the same:
- Make a perpetual motion claim
- Put together a convincing proposal (sometimes including a clever "prototype" that hides an external power source, or battery)
- Start raking in the dough.
- Go into "development" for several years, producing nothing but vapor and hopeful press releases.
- Raise more funds, repeat.
- They run off with the money, get convicted of fraud, or fail to successfully demonstrate the technology publicly, and fade away from public view.
Steorn is an Irish company that used to design and create websites. The dot-com bubble burst, and they decided to create perpetual motion technology, while still creating the occasional bed-and-breakfast home page. This company has pulled out all the stops in an attempt to continue stringing along potential investors over the last 10 years. They have secured millions in loans over the last decade, and are now, supposedly almost ready to commercialize a technology that can create, inexpensive free energy for everyone without using natural resources (solar, wind, waves, rivers, geothermal, etc...).
For myself, the interest is in how long they can prolong the charade. As someone who has worked in the information security industry for many years, I am used to seeing impossible claims come and go. I have seen vendors and individuals claim to have uncrackable encryption, unbreakable operating systems, unhackable systems, and other "perfect solutions" to the ever changing and increasing challenges we face in the security industry.
Steorn Ltd. (Wikipedia page) attempted to publicly display their technology in London in July 2007. As with many other perpetual motion scams, the public demonstration experienced "technical difficulties" and was canceled (a greenhouse effect supposedly destroyed bearings). Shortly thereafter, Steorn announced open availability of several demo units for scientists to independently test and validate the technology. The response was huge, and a handful of respondents were selected and required to sign non-disclosure agreements (not surprisingly). This "jury" of respondents concluded in June 2009 (also not surprisingly) that the technology did not work. Steorn responded that the issue was just a little bug in the design, that it was now fixed, and that they are going commercial with their technology in the coming year.
How thick can you get?
Steorn currently (as of December 2009) has a public demonstration underway in Dublin, in which a small device is connected to a rechargeable battery, and is supposedly creating more energy than it is consuming. They have gone to great lengths with multimedia this time, with videos on their site showing the demonstration, a diagram showing a basic electric motor powered by a D-cell battery, and even a viral media campaign including a blog, and some YouTube videos of average joes who have duplicated and validated Steorn's multimillion dollar project using zip ties, skateboard wheels and particle board.
Without further ado, this is the face of someone who has discovered the magic of free, endless energy. Witness his excitement. Witness him reading prompts from his monitor. Witness his inability to turn off his webcam. Count how many times he says "legit" and "doubt".
Here are three videos of people spinning random circular objects with an electric motor, claiming to be Steorn's "Orbo" technology.
Here is the company's CEO, Sean McCarthy in 2006, describing the jury process for the technology that completely failed because of a bug they've now fixed. He is an expert salesman/conman, getting all of the potential investor's fears out in the open so that he can address each one individually. Even after the entire process he claims will prove they are creating energy from "nowhere", they continue on selling vapor. They now offer a $400 USB magnetometer, and access to "free energy for everyone" to developers for a fee.
