It might be inadvertent scam but a lot of these people passionately believe in their ideas. A lot of the time they’re not selling anything and it couldnt be categorized as scam. It’s wishful thinking for all I care

some really seem like true believers. I'm trying to find the one I'm thinking of because you're right: the search results are overwhelmingly people trying to get you off the site. The casual enthusiast having fun tinkering in the garage is fine by me; it's keeping them out of trouble and a better hobby than, say, boating. But like you I abhor the ruthless exploiter selling you a dream because having to work for a living is garbage. Whether that's the drop shipping get rich quick person, or the "buy my zero point generator" guy.

> and a better hobby than, say, boating.

LOL, as a boat owner that hasn't been out on my boat in quite a few hears, I wholeheartedly agree. On a side note, the payment's due again...

Sorry, I have to disappoint. I know at least one person IRL who believes a number of pretty weird things. Know him since school. Almost freaked me out when he told me he builds a cloudbuster for his backyard to protect against chemtrails.

A coworker of mine, and otherwise an incredibly smart and skilled developer, bought one of these believing it was real :(

There's something to be said for the average person being ideologically incoherent from my perspective, for the same reason I probably seem likewise ideologically incoherent to them!

There's a tonne of people that genuinely buy in to this stuff.

All you need is some vague sense that all the "experts" are either dumber than you, or part of some big conspiracy.

Then because of that you don't even try to understand the work of those that came before you and hey presto! You're on your way to slowly rediscovering the laws of thermodynamics on your own - and until you do (if you ever do) you'll believe all sorts of wacky shit might be possible.