Description
In this context, the term "free energy" is not well-defined, and should not be confused with thermodynamic free energy. Generally, it is used to refer to purported transformative technologies which have the potential to dramatically reduce personal energy costs with relatively little capital investment.
There have been numerous free energy claims over the years. Many, such as those implying perpetual motion or those based on extracting zero-point energy, are viewed as impossible according to accepted physical laws. Others, such as cold fusion, while not fundamentally impossible, are not accepted as established by the scientific community. Conspiracy advocates therefore claim that the scientific community has controlled and suppressed research into alternative avenues of energy production via the institutions of peer review.
In addition, some claim that devices capable of extracting significant and usable power from pre-existing energy reservoirs for little or no cost exist but are being suppressed by governments and special interest groups (such as the fossil fuel and nuclear industry), and that suppression has been going on for some time. According to energy suppression conspiracy advocates, the main motive behind this is the preservation of the economic status quo and sustained increase of fuel prices. Variations on the energy suppression conspiracy state that free energy cannot be allowed in a capitalist system because the economic system would break down if it were introduced.
Proponents of this conspiracy theory also claim that certain renewable technologies (such as solar cells and biofuels) and other efficient technologies (as electric vehicles) are being suppressed or weakened by governments and special interest groups.
Free energy research is typically considered to be pseudo-scientific or unrealistic by the scientific community. Conspiracy theorists allege that this is a deliberate attempt by conspirators to suppress this research. There are various other factors which can prevent funding of some alternative energy development, such as "time and information" and capital costs. Groups behind the alleged conspiracy have been said to include various national governments, international automakers, and the petroleum industry. An article in Nexus magazine claims
- The spread of working free-energy technologies has been prevented by wealthy elite governments, deluded inventors and con men, as well as a non-demanding public.
Read more about this topic: Free Energy Suppression
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“It is possible—indeed possible even according to the old conception of logic—to give in advance a description of all ‘true’ logical propositions. Hence there can never be surprises in logic.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“I was here first introduced to Joe.... He was a good-looking Indian, twenty-four years old, apparently of unmixed blood, short and stout, with a broad face and reddish complexion, and eyes, methinks, narrower and more turned up at the outer corners than ours, answering to the description of his race. Besides his underclothing, he wore a red flannel shirt, woolen pants, and a black Kossuth hat, the ordinary dress of the lumberman, and, to a considerable extent, of the Penobscot Indian.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“An intentional object is given by a word or a phrase which gives a description under which.”
—Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (b. 1919)