The Search for the Secret of Perpetual Motion Continues.

The search for the solution to perpetual motion has occupied the mind of man since the earliest times. Two questions; why has it been such a magnet for us?  Why hasn’t anyone produced a working model? Johann Bessler said it was because no one had ever been able to devote as much time, every day, to searching for the solution as he had.  He also said that he had acquired more experience in different trades than anyone else, before or since which gave him a unique advantage.  Both the claims ring true, because we all have to work to earn money these days and time is therefore restricted, and I doubt if there are many people actively researching this subject who have as much ‘hands-on’ experience as Bessler had.

That is the answer to the second question, but why have we spent what must amount to trillions of hours over the centuries, looking for this pot of gold?  Leaving aside answers to do with the more mundane pursuits such as irrigation, grinding flour and corn, draining mines etc, there seems to be something at the back of our minds that informs us that such a device, driven by or enabled by gravity, could turn continuously and do work and do something really clever. It’s something we all know instinctively.  Perhaps it’s in our DNA.

How do female pigeons know that they need to build a nest to lay their eggs in?  How do male pigeons know that they must supply hundreds of twigs for the female to construct a nest?  We are told it’s instinct, but instinct is defined as an ‘innate, typically fixed pattern of behaviour in animals in response to certain stimuli’.  Wikipedia says instinct is genetically hard-wired behaviour that enhance our ability to cope with vital environmental contingencies, so it is in their DNA. Our innate fear of snakes is an example.  A fear of snakes is understandable, but what stimulus made the male pigeons gather twigs for their lady friends?

So if it’s in our genes, but who or what put it there? Experience and survival of the fittest would account for the fear of snakes, I suppose, but why do so many people instinctively ‘know’ that Bessler’s wheel was genuine and knew it hundreds of years before he was born that such a device was possible?

Despite being told, taught, informed, harangued that it is impossible, a very significant part of the population believe it might be possible, but unfortunately the majority of those accept the word of the experts and either dismiss the idea or give up too soon.  It is down to we optimistic researchers who, ever hopeful, persist in  seeing the glass half full instead of half empty.

We are irrepressibly optimistic, overconfident and always have an alternative design we have to try. My own optimism often gets the better of me, but I still think it is a trait that we need to maintain and nurture. 

I’m sure we have each endured the scornful reaction that many people have to our belief in Bessler and we have learned to keep quiet and not discuss it with anyone outside our circle. But when the secret is revealed and has become accepted, maybe some of those who dismissed us as nuts, loonies etc, will revise their opinions of us and congratulate us on our amazing and perceptive thinking and determination.

JC