Fact or fake – often deceptively similar

Badly researched or deliberately made up?

Have you ever wondered whether the information you find online is actually correct? At a time when false reports and alternative facts are spread on social media almost daily, it is more important than ever to question critically whether a source is trustworthy or not. Today we want to use an example to examine whether certain information was deliberately made up or simply badly researched.

Anyone looking for information often combs the internet. Video platforms or advice sites then usually offer a wide range of information. Sometimes it is useful – sometimes it may just be about generating clicks. On video platforms, this could serve to expand reach for the purpose of better monetising one’s own channel.

Using an example sent in to us, we want to show where it can lead when various promotional pieces of information are thrown together in a video with little sense – in our opinion just to generate clicks and views.

Elon Musk is a visionary and a role model for many. At any rate, many people react when he puts out a message. So when Elon announces a quantum energy generator (QEG) and thereby unveils unlimited free energy, that is a strong statement at first – it sounds logical and fits his line of business. You quickly click on it. But watch the video yourself and ask where a QEG is actually hiding – or rather, where it is unveiled.

Insights into the video

The video’s subtitle promises: ”[…] In today’s episode, the tech billionaire unveiled a quantum energy generator that will give us unlimited energy, and above all, it is free for the world. What is a quantum energy generator and how does it work? Let’s find out! […] Welcome back to Elon Musk Evolution, where we bring you the latest news about Elon Musk and his billion-dollar companies, space news and the latest science and technology.”

At great length, a monotonous voice first recites a pile of figures, each perfectly illustrated with matching images. Too perfect, in our view – probably created by artificial intelligence (AI).

From minute 7:52 it finally gets exciting: A first image sequence of the InfinitySAV generator, which we know all too well, is shown. Fortunately we know Brian Ford, owner of InfinitySAV Australia, well, and we know that the video is simply communicating nonsense. Unfortunately, there will be no ready-to-sell InfinitySAV generator in the foreseeable future. The processes of the group working on it jointly in the background – of which GAIA is a part – are progressing slowly and are marked by failures. This may also be because, after the death of Andrii Slobodian, not all components of InfinitySAV in Korea were handed over to the “rescue group” after all.

Old footage of InfinitySAV in Korea: All the video sources can already be seen in other videos and have been thrown together at random here. The claim that the separately excited MG10 delivers a total of 10 kW of power is also simply wrong. The motor consumed almost 50% of the output to keep itself running. We by no means want to belittle Andrii Slobodian’s achievement in creating this generator, but the statements made are simply technically wrong. In addition, parts of the generator that burned in August 2020 are in our keeping; they have historical value but no technical value any more. They will next be presented to interested people at the event in Ernstbrunn (German).

Finally, at minute 9:42, a historical prototype of a QEG design is shown: What follows are again minutes of blasphemous phrases about other well-known technologies and a pile of colourful image sequences. To recap: an old wooden QEG prototype is shown for all of 4 seconds – without any noteworthy proof of function in the video. We ask what Elon Musk was supposed to be unveiling here. Basically nothing; he has nothing whatsoever to do with it. Rather, it is shameful to conceal the builder of this device and attribute it to Elon Musk, who certainly creates high tech with other technical means.

And again old footage of InfinitySAV from minute 12:35: A presentation to official Korean representatives shortly before the death of Andrii Slobodian is shown. This is both irrelevant to the topic of the QEG and – we feel – rather tasteless.

InfinitySAV construction plans for the generator are going open source, around minute 14 … This is by far the most audacious claim in the video. In reality there is no set of detailed construction plans, so they cannot be made available as open source either. That would be the truth.

Another QEG prototype at minute 16 … This time another – but also old – prototype is shown for all of 7 seconds. It is claimed to produce 230 V single-phase. But this too remains an unproven claim in the video, like so much in this film.

Now it gets funny at minute 17:00 … The voice says: ”[…] only a few replacment parts like bearings, v-belts and capacitors can reduce the devices servicelive […]” … well … that hardly makes sense.

Elon visually closes the video … And the viewer is asked why governments do not sufficiently appreciate the spread of unpaid free forms of energy, or stand in the way of their spread. Comments are welcome, it says.

Conclusion

It is hardly surprising that the scene around the development of alternative forms of energy is viewed with such suspicion when videos like this are supposed to inform the interested viewer. Such content tends to confuse. All too often, hopes are raised at random that cannot be fulfilled here and now. Leaps in time are made at random, and technologies that have little to do with each other are jumbled together. Elon Musk serves as a click generator. A pity. Artificial intelligence obviously still has a lot to learn. Let’s be glad that in real life real people are working on solutions and making sensible decisions. We remain confident that a technology will soon be available that supplies clean energy decentrally and 24/7.