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It's not very useless. The title suggests a perpetual motion machine, so I was wondering what that was doing on HN. Knowing you have to lift it first (from the

by Jach 14y ago

It's not very useless. The title suggests a perpetual motion machine, so I was wondering what that was doing on HN. Knowing you have to lift it first (from the article or from the comments) is important to know and lets one think this isn't necessarily made up.

bmelton 14y ago
If you had an infinitely long rope and access to an infinitely deep chasm, then there's no reason it wouldn't be considered a perpetual motion machine.
- kevinh 14y ago
  With an infinitely long rope and an infinitely deep chasm there would not be substantial gravity pulling it downward to have perpetual motion.
  - rtkwe 14y ago
    No gravity would simply approach infinity as you descended the well. And since we're being pedantic that's not an issue.
mmanfrin 14y ago
You infer a perpetual motion machine, they say it is 'powered by gravity'.
- mayanksinghal 14y ago
  Which is something I infered as well, and probably many others. The title is confusing and that is all the OP was pointing at, so you know, be nice - he wasn't trying to undermine the achievements, if any.