Off The Grid

[Richard]

Seems like an interesting guy to know if you're seeking to be 'off the grid' - engineering, science, gunsmithing.

http://digg.com/video/the-diy-engineer-who-built-a-nuclear-reactor-in-his-basement?edit_mode=true

Here's his blog.

http://www.coultersmithing.com/forums/index.php

Richard

[PSM]

Nine total post under "topics" and no new ones since 2012. No real information either, except about the blog itself. And the fusion reactor... :rolleyes:

Pat

[Trapper John]

I am fond of tinkerers as the real source of innovations. We have become too arrogant in thinking that innovation must come from stellar institutions of higher learning, or big corporations, or large government research labs all with large R&D budgets.

The facts don't seem to support this biased view. Take for instance the transistor. True it came out of Bell Labs, but it was actually an underfunded off budget "skunk works" project that was championed by the inventors - tinkerers. Same for the personal computer - Jobs and Wosniak tinkering in their garage, or Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin, or Thomas Edison's Menlo park laboratory, or a myriad other examples throughout history. All championed by rather eccentric individuals that were out of the mainstream thinking of their time and were often ridiculed by their peers.

Some buttoned-up types will look at Coulter and his disheveled appearance and his "laboratory" and see a junk-works run by a kook. I see inklings of creative genius.

The point is that real, paradigm shifting creativity and innovation is as unmanageable as it is unpredictable. I think it would be worthwhile to see what he has or doesn't have in terms of fusion energy. Considering the risk/reward ratio, someone with the scientific background and an open, unbiased mind might just find the most significant discovery/invention since the wheel, but then again, the odds say not. I'd say it's worth a look and a few hours of time to see.

The problem is going to be his "open source" philosophy. Sounds nice, but that philosophy violates the simple rule: "That which is everybody's is nobody's!"

Anyone know a good physicist with an open mind that would be up for a little road trip? :D

[GratefulCitizen]

The problem is going to be his "open source" philosophy. Sounds nice, but that philosophy violates the simple rule: "That which is everybody's is nobody's!"


"Open source" tends to point both ways.
In can be an effective way to capture free outsourcing.

Also, who says that someone is really sharing everything they know?
Giving away free information tends to cause others to build systems along more predictable paths.

If you're already a few steps ahead along that path, you're prepositioned to capture future profit.
Meanwhile, much of the groundwork, networking, R&D, and infrastructure is built by others...for free.

Go ahead and take my pawn.
It's free.
;)

[PSM]

I am fond of tinkerers as the real source of innovations.

I totally agree. My late father-in-law was one of these. During WW2 he worked for Metal Hydrides Inc. on the Manhattan Project. He eventually retired from the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu.

When he and his wife moved to a retirement village, cleaning out his garage was a real eye opener. He was tossing projects he’d been working on for over 40 years into the dumpster. Our son’s high school also inherited a bunch testing equipment and huge glass condensers. There was also a lot of HAZMAT stuff we had to figure out how to deal with. (And no, we couldn't take it to the local HAZMAT disposal facility. :eek:)

I think it would be worthwhile to see what he has or doesn't have in terms of fusion energy.

Well, there was a camera there yet he showed no evidence of power actually being created at all. Personally I hope he succeeds. I need one. ;)

Pat