Difference between revisions of "1166: Argument"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
(Transcript)
(Transcript)
Line 10: Line 10:
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
:[A page on a forum]
+
:[A page from a very long thread on "Free Energy Forum."]
 
:'''Thread:''' You're all crackpots who don't understand thermodynamics.
 
:'''Thread:''' You're all crackpots who don't understand thermodynamics.
 
:Page 547 of 547
 
:Page 547 of 547
:Ironically, the argument I started on perpetual motion forum in 2004 shows no signs of slowing down
+
:Poster 1: No, idiot, only the ''north'' end of a magnet increases entropy. The south end decreases it.
 
+
:Poster 2: I wiki'd this "First Law" and I don't see the issue. My device isn't a robot and doesn't harm humans.
 +
:Poster 3: What if we trick the government into only suppressing he ''left'' side of the flywheel?
 +
:Caption: Ironically, the argument I started on a perpetual motion forum in 2004 shows no signs of slowing down.
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
[[Category:Physics]]
 
[[Category:Physics]]

Revision as of 06:58, 28 January 2013

Argument
The misguided search for a perpetual motion machine has run substantially longer than any attempted perpetual motion machine.
Title text: The misguided search for a perpetual motion machine has run substantially longer than any attempted perpetual motion machine.

Explanation

Transcript

[A page from a very long thread on "Free Energy Forum."]
Thread: You're all crackpots who don't understand thermodynamics.
Page 547 of 547
Poster 1: No, idiot, only the north end of a magnet increases entropy. The south end decreases it.
Poster 2: I wiki'd this "First Law" and I don't see the issue. My device isn't a robot and doesn't harm humans.
Poster 3: What if we trick the government into only suppressing he left side of the flywheel?
Caption: Ironically, the argument I started on a perpetual motion forum in 2004 shows no signs of slowing down.


comment.png add a comment! ⋅ comment.png add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif refresh comments!

Discussion

Anyone know if there really is a thread for this? I Googled the title as shown in quotes and it didn't give me any results. Without quotes gave me the xkcd forums as well as some Creationist stuff. 76.122.5.96 07:39, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

-- Haha! I did exactly the same, but in the hour and a half since you searched, some enterprising soul has created what appears to be a tribute thread at [1]. PabloVergos (talk) 08:57, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Also, 0.999... ≠ 1 and the government covered it up. 108.233.253.211 00:35, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

The explanation for the third post should make note of the situation where you hang a flywheel (e.g. a bicycle wheel) by each end of its axis using cords, spin the wheel then cut one cord, and the bicycle wheel will keep spinning in the same position! There was a YouTube video for this, but I cannot find it, there must be more people who know what I'm talking about. It has something to do with centripetal (No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die). :) 84.224.77.100 05:32, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

I think it refers to this, not gyroscopes. Bugefun (talk) 06:27, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

I did some digging and found http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=29697&page=4 Not sure if it has any relation, but it's hard to believe its a coincidence that the thread is from 2004 and the final comment is "I think this thread has run its course, and I'm getting tired of deleting crackpot posts from it. Any objections? Good." Ornj (talk) 09:36, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

Can anyone identify the icons at the left of the three postings in the comic? The first looks to be a generic head, but the second is a device of some kind, with (perhaps) a push-button, and a wire leading from and connecting back to the device. The third might be a person standing next to a Tesla coil or Van de Graaff generator. Vere Nekoninda (talk) 14:42, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

The second device is a power strip plugged into itself. Free energy, after all.

This thread lives on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=287qd4uI7-E

Perpetual Motion Machines are not free energy. For that to happen, you need it to output more energy than it uses :( SilverMagpie (talk) 16:53, 22 May 2017 (UTC)

About the thread, it seems to have been deleted with the site :( 172.69.71.36 01:57, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Rational Wiki

Alright I have no problem with giving a link to rational wiki but can someone explain to me why we are redirecting people there when it has significantly less credible citations than wikipedia's pseudoscience page?--Lackadaisical (talk) 20:29, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

What started with a single click on Wikipedia's "self-replicating machine" page has led to an ever-increasing number of tabs in my browser containing articles on self-replication. Please help. --162.158.255.147 23:13, 16 July 2016 (UTC)

the total time any perpetual motion machine has been running is 0 seconds

Pretty sure that, while literally true in the sense that no perpetual motion machine exists and therefore has never run for any length of time, that's not what Randall meant: I'm sure he meant the total time any attempted perpetual motion machine has run may be in the weeks and months but not the many years since he started the argument. I will edit in 24 hours if nobody objects. AmbroseChapel (talk) 00:50, 1 September 2017 (UTC)