Tracy Herrity : Is there something like a "Free Gift?"

Tracy Herrity: Your Mail-Interview Project prompted me to send out a few questions of my own! I would like to ask you if you have read Marcel Mauss "The Gift" which discusses wether you can truly give a gift freely. I would like to find out your opinion on "a free gift".

Ruud Janssen: No, I haven't read that specific book. A gift is never free. It costs other things. It is exchange of energy. receive it & pass on or return. In physics there is the law that explains that energy never gets lost. The energy you invest in a gift (it isn't free, you did something to get that gift....) is passed on to the receiver. He can react on that, pass it on, or even ignore it. But somehow it will cause something for sure.