The Bottom Line

From zero-point energy cranks, to those who just want to mess around with magnets, there have always been nutcases who want a free lunch. Some of these folks are actually self-deluded enough to think that the second law of thermodynamics is just a suggestion, but the rest of them simply want their free lunch (and beach house) to come at the expense of investors who fall for their flim-flam.

For those few of you who have never laid eyes upon the genius of Maurits Cornelius Escher, I present to you one of his most famous works, and a remarkably elegant response to those who propose perpetual motion in a closed system:

A visual representation of the mental gymnastics these kooks are forced to go through.

Either you're fooling yourself, or you're trying to fool someone else. It's an illusion, and that's the bottom line.