Just because you're too invested in your lack of knowledge to understand the example doesn't make the example wrong. In fact your saying this shows just how little understanding of physics and chemistry (and nigerian frauds) you have. This thing is EXACTLY analogous to a Nigerian fraud. First they guy throws out the bait. There will be some simple souls (generally those same people who believe that the gas industry buys the patents on "100 mpg carburetors" and supresses them) who will think that this is a chance to make big bucks on a previously undiscovered physical phenomenon. SO the guy will need some money to get some basic equipment. There will be an impressively complex gadget (not really big because this will take too much of the money that he gets). Then that won't be quite enough so he'll need a bit more, and a bit more, and a bit more, and then he will be 80% on the way to getting it commercialized, and he'll need some more money and the "investors" (suckers) will have thrown in enough money so that they will want it to succeed so they'll give him some more. And then sooner or later the suckers will catch on and stop giving him money and the guy disappears a step ahead of the lawsuits - taking the money with him.
Hell why am I telling you this. I guess it was a mistake to treat you as a rational being, since all you did was make a smart ass remark about my example. I've argued this same point with uninformed egalitarians before, and they always fall back on the same bullsh!t about science saying bumblebees can fly etc. and "over the centuries knowledge has changed" bullcrap etc. But what it really boils down to is their egos will not let them recognize that someone else is better informed than they are. One common pattern for all of these arguments is that they cling to their ignorance with a surprising ferocity. Keep it. Treasure your ignorance. Stay as arrogant and as uninformed as you want.
Tell you what, put your money where your mouth is and invest in this "invention" and when you come back in a year or two rich I will humbly apologize for being wrong. Or when this guy "just needs a little more capital to get it working" give it to him. See what happens.
I think we can safely say that discoveries will still be made in the future. It’s my opinion, unlike yours, that we may even make discoveries in the very area we are discussing today, and that some of them may not comply with prior understandings.
Thanks for your response.