@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:MINSKY@MIT-OZ (06/14/85)
From: MINSKY%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA The Dean Drive was a mistake. Shortly after it was described, I magnified a photograph of it and identified the model number of the Sears Roebuck bathroom scale used to measure the 15% reduction in weight of the equipment when it was turned on and started vibrating. Roland Silver, Claude Shannon, and I bought the same model scale and discovered that it had a diode-like mechanical linkage between the meter and the platform. It was easy to stand on the same scale and reduce one's own weight by shaking one's fist up and down. We explained all this to John Campbell, editor of Astounding Magazine, who had published the original announcement. He was angry and said that conventional scientists would always stand in the way of progress. -- minsky