56) Looks Like Technological Con Artistry
Ludwik Kowalski, <kowalskiL@mail.montclair.edu>
Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043, (4/24/03)
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An example of real pseudo-science was shown in item 16 on my list. It was posted several months ago. To my great surprise I found that the company is still in business. How many naive investors have they found? How much money have they collect from them? Why do people invest in devices without seeing them in operation?
The company website < http://www.genesisworldenergy.com/team.htm > is worth visiting.
In their Q&A section (December 2002) one reads that “commercially viable versions of the Edison Device currently exist, as does the manufacturing capacity to produce and assemble devices.” In a more recent statement (March 2003) one reads that “Genesis World Energy has currently received proposals from governments, private organizations and individuals within 59 countries that meet the specified requirements listed in the Licensing Section.” Hmm, how can this be verified by a potential investor? Important information about the company, such as names of its researchers, location of laboratories and factories, etc. is not available; it is a company secret.
One reader asked: “Is the information being written and posted on the Internet independently by critics of the Genesis effort accurate?” The answer to this question was: “No. Genesis World Energy anticipated from the beginning that certain individuals and industries would be adamantly opposed to the proliferation of the Genesis Technology and would attempt to stop its market introduction. Thus, we fully expected the dissemination of false information [for example, by scientists]. That is why the only correct source of valid information on the Genesis Project and Team is on this website.” Here is what Robert Park, with whom I totally agree this time, comments on their activities.
“Genesis World Energy proposes to free the world from fossil fuel dependence by ‘harnessing energy from the molecular structure of water’. The idea is deceptively simple: use electrolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen and then use a hydrogen fuel cell to generate electricity. I know, you’re going to say it will take more electricity to split the water than the fuel cell can generate. . . . The Genesis people say they assembled a team of 400 top scientists. You think these guys never heard of the conservation of energy? ‘For security purposes,’ Genesis explains, ‘the Genesis Team has elected to disclose little about the science behind the technology. In the absence of detailed information, it is not possible to understand how Genesis’ stated results were achieved. Therefore, the scientific community at large will analyze the Genesis Project based on conventional thinking.’ OK, I’m busted! I’ve been relying on the First Law of Thermodynamics, which is about as conventional as you can get.”
Quoted from < http://www.aps.org/WN/WN03/wn011703.html#2 >
Another critic of the device, John Lichnetstein, wrote: ”What is Genesis World Energy? People calling themselves Genesis World Energy have announced the Edison Device, which they say converts water into energy. They claim to be a private general partnership based in Idaho. You can verify for yourself that as of 2003-January-15, they are not registered in Idaho. They might be performance artists. They might be a scam. What is the Edison Device? It's been described inconsistently by GWE. When it was first released, it was a miracle that would liberate the world from fossil fuel dependence, a device that converts water to hydrogen and oxygen and back, extracting more energy from the conversion to water than is required for the conversion from water. This is what's traditionally called a perpetual motion machine; it's a violation of the first law of thermodynamics. . . Have there been independent tests of the Edison device? No such claim is made. GWE claims that they have shown the device to various smart folk, but none of these folks are talking. An anonymous endorsement is uninformative. . . . Who is GWE? The Edison device design team all wish to remain anonymous. . . . I'm John Lichtenstein, a statistician from California. I hate to see people ripped off.” Quoted from < http://slashdot.org/~chipotle_pickle/journal/21169 >
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