Memorandum for the Record

Puthoff vs. Sarfatti

Who's on first?

OK Hal, gotchya with your hand in the Cookie Jar! :-)

Ladies and Gentlemen of The Jury

I give you

Duel in the Sun

http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/duel.html

The Smoking Gun

http://www.ok-corral.com/

Hal Puthoff on April 15, 2004: "Jack, this is what I mean about your misrepresentations and pseudocriticism of my work.  I'm not trying to scale up the Casimir force effect, never have, never even thought about it.  Discussion of the Casimir effect in ZPE discussions are purely pedagogical, not application oriented, and this is clear to everyone else on your list who emails me privately.  The devices that have not scaled up are Ken's charge cluster devices, not Casimir devices.  My thoughts for ZPE extraction are based on totally different other approaches.  I understand Petersen's work and the implications long before I ever even heard of Petersen.  Where in my work have I ever talked about scaling up Casimir effect for engineering energy extraction devices, where?!"

Hal Puthoff in March 1, 2004 Aviation Week's "To The Stars": ""Then the Casimir effect was found to be a natural

embodiment of natural principles," Puthoff said. "The [general] reaction was: 'OK, but it's a small effect. It's never going to be useful for making energy' — just like what was said about nuclear energy. So, we're now at the stage of looking for the equivalent of Fermi's neutron-source catalyst — something that ignites the ZPE process."

Now I know we are in the middle of The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization where even "smart people" have lost their ability to reason and think critically. So let me spell it out. Hal here compares the Casimir force to nuclear energy! Capische? Have you all connected the dots yet? ;-)

On Apr 15, 2004, at 2:06 PM, Puthoff@aol.com wrote:

In a message dated 4/15/04 3:52:35 PM, sarfatti@pacbell.net writes:

If Ken Shoulder's charge clusters are not glued together by the zero

point Casimir force then how are they glued together and how do you

hope to use them to extract vacuum energy?

(1) I don't know how they're glued together, nor (2) whether they can be used to extract vacuum energy, and (3) I'm not working on charge clusters.

See what I mean?!  Talk about misrepresentation!

Hal

Well let's see who is really "misrepresenting" Hal?

1. "The most straight-forward evidence for vacuum energy is the Casimir effect. Get two metal plates close enough together and this vacuum energy will push them together. This is because the plates block out the light waves that are too big to fit between the plates. Eventually you have more waves bouncing on the outside than from the inside, the plates will get pushed together from this difference in light pressure. This effect has been experimentally demonstrated.

Can we tap into this energy?

It is doubtful that this can be tapped, and if it could be tapped, it is unknown what the secondary consequences would be. Remember that this is our lowest energy point. To get energy out, you presumably need to be at a lower energy state. Theoretical methods have been suggested to take advantage of the Casimir effect to extract energy (let the plates collapse and do work in the process) since the region inside the Casimir cavity can be interpreted as being at a lower energy state. Such concepts are only at the point of theoretical exercises at this point.

With such large amount of energy, why is it so hard to notice?

Imagine, for example, if you lived on a large plateau, so large that you didn’t know you were 1000 ft up. From your point of view, your ground is at zero height. As long as your not near the edge of your 1000 ft plateau, you won’t fall off, and you will never know that your zero is really 1000. It’s kind of the same way with this vacuum energy. It is essentially our zero reference point.

What about propulsion implications?

The vacuum fluctuations have also been theorized by Haisch, Rueda, and Puthoff to cause gravity and inertia. Those particular gravity theories are still up for debate. Even if the theories are correct, in their present form they do not provide a means to use electromagnetic means to induce propulsive forces. It has also been suggested by Millis that any asymmetric interactions with the vacuum energy might provide a propulsion effect."

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/html/warp/possible.htm#vac

2. " The Electrostatic Interaction of Neutral Matter

Ian R. Peterson1 and Robert M. Metzger2

1. Centre for Molecular and Biomolecular Electronics,

Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK.

2. Laboratory for Molecular Electronics, Chemistry Department,

The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0336 USA

....

The complexity of the Casimir analysis has led to some untenable assertions. It

has been claimed that the parallel-mirror configuration provides access to an infinite

source of energy [18,19]. However the maximum energy that can be extracted by

allowing the separation of the mirrors to drop to zero cannot exceed the surface energy

...

18. R Forward Phys. Rev. B 30, 1700 (1984).

19. D C Cole, H E Puthoff Phys. Rev. E 48, 1562-1565 (1993)."

3. From Victor Martinez, who likes to stick in CAPS. They are not mine:

TO THE STARS: ONE OF AMERICA's LEADING THEORETICAL

PHYSICISTS AND EXPERTS WEIGHS IN ON 'ZERO POINT ENERGY' FOR

AEROSPACE VEHICLE PROPULSION / ZERO POINT ENERGY EMERGES FROM REALM OF

SCIENCE FICTION / MAY BE KEY TO DEEP-SPACE TRAVEL! –

By William B Scott, Austin, TX, Aviation Week &

Space Technology, March

1, 2004 edition / Posted on Wednesday, March 10,

2004 18:45:31 PST

[Overtone writes: Aviation Week & Space Technology

March 1, 2004, pp.

50-53.

Note: The article below has been edited and

shortened to highlight energy conversion, rather than space propulsion.

Zero point energy emerges from realm of science fiction. Comment and

reviews follow.]

"At least two large aerospace companies and one U.S. Defense Dept. agency

are betting that "zero point energy" could be the next breakthrough in

aerospace, and are backing those bets with seed money for ZPE research.

If their efforts pay off, ZPE-driven power plants might enable Mach 4

fighters, quiet 1,200-seat hypersonic airliners that

fly at 100-mi. altitudes as far as 12,000 mi. in about 70 min., and

12.6-hr. trips to the Moon.

ONE OF THOSE companies, BAE Systems, launched

"PROJECT GREENGLOW" in 1986 "to provide a focus for research into novel

propulsion systems and the means to power them," said R.A. Evans, the

project leader, in a technical paper last year.

At least one large U.S. aerospace company is embarking on ZPE research

in response to a Defense Dept. request, but the company and its customer

cannot be identified yet. National laboratories, the military services

and other companies either now have or have had low-level ZPE-related

efforts underway.

The concept of zero point energy is rooted in

quantum theory, and is difficult for even the technically minded to grasp.

But theories validated by meticulous experiments have confirmed

that so-called "empty space" or what scientists call the "quantum vacuum"

actually is teeming with activity. Tiny electromagnetic fields

continuously fluctuate around their "zero-baseline" values, even when the

temperature drops to absolute zero (0 K) and all thermal effects have

ceased.

A LEADING RESEARCHER in this realm of new physics,

HAL E. PUTHOFF, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies (at

Austin), explains zero point energy this way:

"When you get down to the tiniest quantum levels,

everything's always 'jiggly.' Nothing is completely still, even at

absolute zero. That's why it's called 'zero point energy,' because, if you

were to cool the universe down to absolute zero – where all thermal

motions were frozen out — you'd still have residual motion. The energy

associated with that 'jiggling' will remain, too."

For most technologists, quantum theory conjures up

images of extremely minuscule particles and field effects. Why would

aerospace companies and governments invest in researching "jiggles" that

defy measurement? Because those quantum or vacuum fluctuations – the

"jiggles" of zero point energy — if tapped somehow, could produce

stupendous amounts of energy and enable deep-space voyages that are

impossible for today's propulsion methods.

"Human transportation within the Solar system will

only become technologically practical if there is a breakthrough

in terms of speed, coupled with an adequate energy/fuel supply," Evans

said.

Energy densities (the amount of energy per unit

volume) of the quantum vacuum are comparable to those of nuclear energy —

or even greater. Consequently, its potential as an energy source is

absolutely enormous. Quantifying the potential of ZPE is difficult, and

scientists are reluctant to translate the huge numbers predicted by

quantum theory into terms easily grasped.

Puthoff's explanation is particularly graphic, though: "It (sounds)

ridiculous, but theoretically, there's enough [zero point] energy in the

volume of a coffee cup to more than evaporate all the world's oceans,"

Puthoff said. "But that's if you could get at all of it, and you obviously can't."

"The potential is practically limitless; way beyond

what can be conceived. But until we learn what ZPE embodiment to

use [an engineering process to extract ZPE], and to what frequency we

can effectively extract the energy, it's really hard to make a

practical statement about how much you can actually use," he cautioned. "So

far, the embodiments are pitifully small." [Experiments] have produced about the same amount of

energy as a butterfly's wing — picowatts or so. But the potential is there."

That staggering potential has kept researchers

pursuing a "new physics" that some critics classify as near-science fiction.

Still, respected scientists and government agencies believe the quest

is worth investing time, effort and money. In 1986, the U.S. Air Force solicited

"Non-conventional Propulsion Concepts" under a Small

Business Innovation Research program. One of the six areas of interest

was "Esoteric energy sources, including the zero point quantum dynamic

energy of vacuum space . . . ."

In particular, the late Robert Forward, a respected scientist recommended additional research of the "Casimir

effect," which had suggested the existence of ZPE decades earlier. This

phenomenon is attributed to H.G.B. Casimir, a Dutch researcher,

who, in 1948, confirmed the reality of quantum vacuum energy by

calculating the value of a small force between two uncharged metal plates.

"IF YOU PUT TWO metal plates very close together, they partially shield

some ZPE frequencies," Puthoff explained. "That means the energy

bouncing back and forth between the plates is less than the energy

outside, so the plates get pushed together. Radiation pressure outside

the plates is greater than radiation pressure in the somewhat-shielded

area between the plates. The plates coming together

convert vacuum energy to heat."

In 1997, Steve K. Lamoreaux, a University of Washington atomic physicist at the time,

conducted precise measurements of the Casimir effect.

His results almost perfectly matched the predictions of quantum electrodynamics theory,

according to a peer-reviewed paper in the Jan. 6, 1997, issue of Physical Review Letters.

When NASA established the Breakthrough Propulsion

Physics (BPP) program in 1996 to research advanced forms of space

transportation, it focused on three objectives:

– Propulsion that required NO propellant mass.

– Propulsion that attained the maximum transit speeds physically

possible.

– Breakthrough methods of energy production to power

such devices.

Through private funding, Puthoff and his team have

secured patents based on converting ZPE to "miniature ball lightning —

micron-size lightning — using a very small traveling wave tube," he said."

Note that these are exactly Ken Shoulders "charge clusters" about which Puthoff writes today:

On Apr 15, 2004, at 2:06 PM, Puthoff@aol.com wrote:

In a message dated 4/15/04 3:52:35 PM, sarfatti@pacbell.net writes:

If Ken Shoulder's charge clusters are not glued together by the zero

point Casimir force then how are they glued together and how do you

hope to use them to extract vacuum energy?

(1) I don't know how they're glued together, nor (2) whether they can be used to extract vacuum energy, and (3) I'm not working on charge clusters.

See what I mean?!  Talk about misrepresentation!

Hal

Hal is hard to pin down. Who is better at evading relevant questions? Hal Puthoff or President Bush in his last press conference? - both from Austin, Texas! :-)

Back to Aviation Week:

"It appeared to demonstrate the principle [of ZPE extraction], but

we were never successful in scaling it up to useful levels. We're

now working on various engineering embodiments to do that, but

we're not there yet."

Such as?

"As to where we stand on energy exchange [research],

the force levels and amount of energy are piddly — real, but

extremely small," Millis added. (See added comment above).

(But) there are striking and encouraging parallels

between the evolvement of ZPE and the history of nuclear energy

research. Albert Einstein's equations showed that an infinitesimal

amount of mass could be converted to a tremendous amount of energy via

nuclear reactions. Initially, scientists insisted something was wrong;

the numbers were just too large. They didn't make sense. But the

mathematics were incontrovertible."

Where is Puthoff's mathematics on this? The two situations are not analogous.

"Then natural radioactivity was discovered,

validating Einstein's equations. However, energy releases found in nature

were so small that even Einstein believed radiation could never be

harnessed as a useful energy source.

"At that time, it looked like [nuclear] fission was

going nowhere," Puthoff said. "The big breakthrough came when

[atomic physicist Enrico] Fermi did his famous experiment at the University of

Chicago. He found that a material releasing lots of neutrons could act

as a catalyst and start a runaway reaction. Fission would take off and

cause a big effect — eventually the atomic bomb in the weapons [arena]

and nuclear reactors in the energy [production] area."

There is, in fact, a really big breakthrough from "precision cosmology." It's called "dark energy."

It is a real anti-gravity field of negative zero point quantum pressure that is 73% of the Universe!

Any mention of it in Aviation Week by Puthoff or Millis? NO! Why is that? Why did Puthoff and

Millis fail to connect the dots? They are already connected in my two books from 2002

"Destiny Matrix" and "Space-Time and Beyond II" copyrighted in the Library of Congress in D.C.

"Zero point energy has a similar history. Predictions

from quantum mechanics said ZPE existed, but the huge numbers

associated with it prompted questions about the mathematics' validity

and suspicions of errors in quantum theory.

Here it comes! The Smoking Gun! Puthoff talking about the Casimir force in Aviation Week, March 1, 2004

"Then the Casimir effect was found to be a natural

embodiment of natural principles," Puthoff said.

"The [general] reaction was: 'OK, but it's a

small effect. It's never going to be useful for

making energy' — just like what was said about nuclear energy. So, we're

now at the stage of looking for the equivalent of Fermi's neutron-source

catalyst — something that ignites the ZPE process."

But today Puthoff wrote:

On Apr 15, 2004, at 1:19 PM, Puthoff@aol.com wrote:

In a message dated 4/15/04 11:17:12 AM, sarfatti@pacbell.net writes:

PS I have correctly said that if Hal understood the physics better he

would understand why he has not been able to scale up any Casimir force

effect. If Hal understood Ian Peterson's work he would realize he is

wasting significant money in trying to do so. Hal's misunderstanding of

the theory has consequences for his engineering.

Jack, this is what I mean about your misrepresentations and pseudocriticism of my work.  I'm not trying to scale up the Casimir force effect, never have, never even thought about it.  Discussion of the Casimir effect in ZPE discussions are purely pedagogical, not application oriented, and this is clear to everyone else on your list who emails me privately.  The devices that have not scaled up are Ken's charge cluster devices, not Casimir devices.  My thoughts for ZPE extraction are based on totally different other approaches.  I understand Petersen's work and the implications long before I ever even heard of Petersen.  Where in my work have I ever talked about scaling up Casimir effect for engineering energy extraction devices, where?!

This is what I mean.  Your straw men about, and the subsequent criticisms of, my work are all over the Internet.  None apply. 

My only question is whether you really don't understand my work, or you do, but misrepresent it intentionally.  Those are the only two options.

Hal

Back to Aviation Week:

"But is harnessing ZPE feasible, and, if so, how

soon? If the expectations of cutting-edge scientists are any

guide, a ZPE power source could be in sight.

"I'd say our confidence level [of a breakthrough] is 50% or better. We have some ideas that we're exploring, but we're not

ready to talk about them," Puthoff hedged. "The big hurdle is finding an embodiment that will permit scale-ups to useful levels of energy —

finding the catalyst for accelerating currently known processes. If our [research] is successful, almost assuredly there'd be no

problem with small units — a few cubic centimeters of ZPE — providing enough energy to power spaceships."

As to when a breakthrough might occur, "We're definitely not stumbling around in the dark anymore," Puthoff continued. "It's been shown that ZERO POINT ENERGY IS REAL and has REAL CONSEQUENCES. It's definitely a technology that's NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME, but it's definitely READY FOR SERIOUS SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION."

Talk is cheap. Let's see some hard evidence. Some plausible ideas without compromising "trade secrets." Is there any there there? If it's so "Black", so Hush Hush, so super-secret then why puff about it in Aviation Week?

"Based on a historical cycle of breakthroughs in

transportation technology, the human race is due for another big

leap in about 2012. Last year, Allen predicted one would occur "within a

decade or two. This stage is equivalent to where aeronautics was in

the 1890s."

Still, NASA's Millis urges caution. "I really DON'T want to raise

people's expectations too much," he said. "To get overly excited causes

more damage [in the field of ZPE research] than skeptics do. We need to

make sure we're not extending our claims beyond what the evidence points

us to today."

Why do Hal's claims here remind me of the Neo Con hype of WMD in Iraq prior to March 20, 2003?

The Austin Effect? :-)

"To be impartial, I'd say were NOT ON THE VERGE of grandiose breakthroughs. But, we have another

embryonic field opening up to us."

I do not know where Victor Martinez got the stuff below? CAPS not mine.